Harry Potter and the Different result
by crazy james
Summary: Magic is sentient, but if the will of a user is strong enough it can be bent. Lily Potter had such will, and when she sacrificed herself, magic bent the result of what she had used, and now she protects her son from within, she will be in death what she couldn't in life.
1. Chapter 1

**Prologue**

***Godrick's Hollow*Halloween*1981***

Lily Potter was a woman who lived for those close to her, the reason she had defended Severus Snape as long as she had during school against the Marauders.

It was also the reason she would have to condemn her son to the life of an orphan.

Four months ago she had heard that blasted prophesy, and apparently, so had The Dark Lord.

With the words that the prophesy had spoken '_neither can live while the other survives_' she knew what she had to do.

Every waking moment until she could barely move had been spent searching for a way to make sure her son, her pride and joy, to survive the impending attack on his person.

She had found it two months ago.

It was a ritual, as old as the Celtic Druids, that would put a magical barrier around her son, protecting him against any and all kind of harm, from insect bites, to blocks on his magic, to the killing curse.

Apart from the runes needed, something that almost every ritual required, the sacrifice was almost too much for her.

She would have to die first.

She didn't want to leave her son alone.

But if she wanted him to live, to survive, she would have to.

And so, when the dark lord came to her home and killed her husband, she was ready.

When he demanded she step aside, she didn't.

When the killing curse struck her, she only dropped one tear.

She had fulfilled her purpose as mother; she had sacrificed everything for her child.

What Lily Potter, formerly Evans, didn't know, is that magic is sentient, not a being for it had no mind, but it was malleable, and with enough will, with enough strength of mind and soul, its results could be changed.

She wanted her son to live, to be protected forever, and so, magic answered.

A full barrier of magic would protect him from those with intent to harm.

She didn't want to leave him alone, and so, magic tied her soul to her child, giving him a mother when she should have died.

When Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore tried to block the magic Harrison James Potter gave off in an attempt to make him appear like a muggle-born, the spells shattered a few hours into the night of November first.

When Harrison was shoved into the small cupboard under the stairs by his uncle, magic prevented collision and made him comfortable on the floor.

When little milk and food were given to the baby, nothing but nutrients came from the meal.

When hours on end were spent under the stairs, Harrison only giggled and played with something only he could see.

Not even the darkness affected him, because Harrison James Potter would always have his mother there.

* * *

**And so starts yet another story by me.  
**

**GatorLHA2 mentioned that I could apply the same principle of 'Tales of Uzumaki Naruto' to a Harry Potter story.**

**One month later comes the result.**

**Previous reader will remember that I said that I will concentrate on 'Harry Potter and the Mexican Mages' for two weeks, this will be changed slightly to allow the first two chapters of this story to come out, expect the next one on the next monday.**

**Goodbye everybody**


	2. Childhood

**Childhood**

***Surrey, England*September 1985***

'_Do I have to mum?'_ A five-year-old boy with emerald-green eyes, a messy mop of raven-black hair, pale skin with a slightly small build and clothes that looked like they had seen better days walked into a school with a small scowl.

'_Yes sweety, I can't teach you everything'_ a voice replied from inside his head as the boy looked around.

This boy was Harry Potter, and he wasn't a normal five-year-old, for Harry Potter had endured what normal children couldn't even imagine.

Harry Potter was a wizard, but not any kind, a prophesized wizard.

A few months before his birth a prophesy had been made, making either him or one other as a saviour for a world that had left him to himself a year after his birth, a few hours after his parents had been murdered by the wizard the prophesy had said he would have to beat.

Something had happened though, thanks to his mother and a ritual she had discovered he had been protected from almost everything.

For some reason he had a scar in the form of a lightning bolt on his forehead, he didn't mind though, it looked awesome.

The ritual his mother had done had somehow gone wrong, and instead of her going to the afterlife, her soul had been anchored to his body, allowing her to live inside his mind.

Lily Potter lived inside he son, in a really literal sense.

Ever since that Halloween four years ago Harry had lived in the home of the Dursleys, living like a leper in quarantine and working like a slave for two years now.

This had made him indifferent to most things; he was apathetic to all that happened around him, he was afraid of only one thing: losing his mother.

Having been brought up in poverty, with only his magic and mother with him, watching as tendrils of uncontrolled magic intercepted every hit that came his way, watching as a boy who threw tantrums got more things that most boys their age, feeling the strain on his body as he worked on the garden under the sun.

It had only been the constant presence of his mother's soul that kept him from snapping and using his magic to retaliate.

But he was sane; he had to act like it.

It simply wouldn't do going to a loony bin before he re-entered the wizarding world, too many things to do before that.

'_And why can't you? You said you completed your muggle education_' Harry didn't want to spend half of his day dealing with spoilt kids his age, who didn't even know how to read

'_They do know how to read, it's taught in kinder garden, and I never got a teaching degree_' Lily scolded her son.

'_They are kids_'

'_So are you_'

Harry sighed, '_I'm not going to win this, am I?_'

Lily smiled, _'don't worry sweety, I may teach you something if you behave, and it's only for five years_'

Harry groaned, five years spent with kids that wanted everything for themselves.

Great, just great.

* * *

***One year later*#4 Private Drive***

Sitting in the darkness of his cupboard, neatly organized to allow all the freedom of movement possible, Harry assessed the rune cluster he had painted on the staircase floor.

If his mother was to be believed, and she was as she had never done anything to him, the runes, once charged would give his cupboard more space, something he needed terribly as his head was already banging on the roof already.

Harry pushed his magic into the cluster, watching as it lit up and as the stairs started to stretch.

Before the cluster blew up in his face.

Harry scowled, '_MUM!'_

Lily chuckled awkwardly, '_heh, I suppose crayon isn't good_'

The boy's brow twitched, '_you should have known_' some wax had gotten in his eyes, not counting the mess his face most likely was right now.

'_I told you to use tendrils as a precaution,_' Lily argued.

Harry wiped his face, '_because you thought the runes were wrong, and you checked your memories many times_' it wasn't that he was angry with his mother, just, a bit annoyed at the result.

He wanted a bit more headroom.

'_Awww, come here you big cry-baby_' cooed Lily.

Harry sighed, '_I am not a cry-baby_'

'_But you'll always be MY baby_'

Harry sighed again and lay down, "whatever mum" he muttered, exhausted by the happenings of the evening.

* * *

***Mindscape***

Harry walked through the familiar streets that made up his mindscape, a lively village called Godric's Hollow.

Back when his mother was alive, her body at least, she had lived in this village for two years with his father, back when the wizarding world was at war.

When her soul had entered his body and settled on his mind, she had put all the time he was awake into building his mindscape from memory.

The construction had been finished when he was four-and-a half, half-a-year ago.

The sleeping moments of his life until she had managed to contact him during his third year of life were spent with him sleeping on her, something she couldn't seem to forget.

Her merciless teasing about him being her little baby said as much.

The raven-haired boy looked around, smiling as the wolves, stags and dogs pranced around and bobbed their heads at him.

It was calming, in a sense.

His mother had explained him that the animals were defences she had created to protect his mind, based on some figures of her past.

He hadn't meant to make her cry when he asked.

The subject was never brought up again.

He found his mother lying down on the dirt in front of a house, with a stag nuzzling her while she hugged it.

Harry stayed silent and only lay down between the two, his head finding a pillow on his mother's belly.

* * *

***One month later***

Having redone the runic cluster on the roof of his tiny little cupboard, this time with chalk that was stolen from school and loaded with magic for a week so it could work, Harry pushed his magic into the cluster from behind his cot.

His last attempt had showed him that as smart and quick-witted his mother was, she had proven to him what she had said time and time again and he refused to acknowledge.

Never put all your trust in someone.

He still did, only with a bit less fanaticism.

Slowly but surely the roof got higher, or the floor lower?

It didn't matter, he had more room now, and as the walls had also separated a bit he could now lay down with comfortable legroom, and it was still growing.

Now all he had to do was get enough money and buy a hammock.

Oh yes, night would be more comfortable now.

It didn't beat sleeping with his mother holding him, but it would have to do.

* * *

***August 1987***

A now seven-year-old Harry Potter lay on the backyard of his relative's house, basking on the sun, something that should be nothing but healthy for the liberty deprived youth.

A few weeks ago, after Harry had let it slip that the school was performing a health check, and that they would probably be going to the home of unhealthy students to see the reason they were, well, unhealthy.

Ever since, as to avoid investigation, they had given him more food, let him out of the cupboard during weekends, as long as he stayed outside the house, and ignored him altogether.

This had the good side-effect of giving him more freedom around Surrey.

The park past Magnolia Crescent was rather pretty during autumn, even more during summer.

But no matter the place, nothing beat lying down on the floor and letting the day fly past.

Maybe he would do this the next day, but on the park.

There was this big tree that gave a really nice shade.

* * *

***Park*the next day***

Harry sighed in contentment as he watched the clouds drift by the sky.

His mother had been pushing him to learn even more runes, and he was already starting with the third runic language: Gypsy

It was hard, especially so because his mother was also teaching him French, why? He didn't know, but who was he to question Lily Potter?

'_It will help you in the future_' Lily's voice cut through his lazy thoughts.

Harry sighed, '_I know, you've told and told me, but I don't see how_'

Lily sighed, getting ready to explain the same thing, AGAIN, '_Runes are important for all kinds of enchantments and wards, something you have already applied to your room, and France is the closest place to England in the Mainland, you said it yourself sweety, you want to travel.'_

'_But English is spoken everywhere'_ Harry whined.

'_It is also resented in some parts of the world_'

Harry frowned, '_that's the Yanks' fault'_

'_And the Empire didn't help much'_

'_That was a century ago.'_

'_Harry'_ the boy shut up, recognizing the dangerous undertone, '_sweety, just don't do as I say, you'll thank me when you have a nice girlfriend to charm_'

Harry blushed and scowled, '_MUM, I'm seven'_

Lily smiled, even as he was, her son was so easy to tease, '_Oh, I can imagine already, six years from now, you'll notice a pretty witch, and you will come to me, begging for advice on how to woo her, and I, being the good mum I am will give you advice, even though you'll leave me to go with someone else' _Harry could almost feel the mock-sadness, '_but then she'll break your heart and you'll come back, crawling and asking for forgiveness for ignoring me_'

'_Mum, you know you're the most important thing in my life'_

'_And I still don't understand why you don't try to make friends'_

'_Kids my age are brats'_

'_And so are you from time to time'_

'_I try to keep it down'_

'_And you just had a moment'_

Harry sighed and sat up, '_fine, just because I don't want this to happen, AGAIN'_

'_I love you too, sweety'_ and the connection went silent

As much as he loved her, his mother really was too much from time to time.

Harry stood up and looked around the playground, noticing that in the time he had been speaking with his mother some kids had entered the park.

Most had ignored him altogether, except for one girl, who walked up to him with a curious frown on her face.

"Hullo, why are you alone?" the girl asked.

She had a dark, almost black, red hair, dark green eyes and most of her face was covered in freckles, though Harry did admit, silently and carefully as he didn't want his mother to hear, she was kind of cute.

Noticing that he had not answered yet, Harry cleared his throat and said, "It is nice to lay down here, there is too much noise there"

The girl's frown turned even more confused, "but there are no games here" she said.

"I know, that's the reason it's quiet enough for me to lay down" Harry replied.

"But you're alone" the girl grinned, and Harry found himself dreading her next words, "I'll keep you company, and you'll be my friend from now on"

Harry sighed, "There is no way you can leave me alone, is there?"

The girl shook her head, "no, you'll be my friend from now on, and I won't take a no for an answer" without waiting for his answer and started dragging him to the swings.

Harry groaned, but recalled that he had said he would at least try to make friends; it wouldn't hurt much, right?

"What's your name anyway?" the girl asked him, "mine is Lisa, Lisa Turpin"

"Harry" he answered Lisa, "Harry Potter"

That was the start of a troublesome friendship.

* * *

**Ah, to live the life of a child.  
**

**I still miss those lovely days I wouldn't have homework on weekends.**

**Now, those whe have read the books, because she doesn't appear on the movies, will recognize the name of the girl, to those who don't, she is one of the Ravenclaws in Harry's year.**

**Since not much is know about her, there you go.**

**Now, some of may think wrongly about Harry's magic, or think in a way I don't.**

**When I planned the story, I meant for the 'magic tendrils and shell' to be something like Gaara's sand from Naruto, on a lower level that only reacts to purely physical things and breakable by higher-tier or over-powered low-tier magic, like a reducto or bombarda or an over-powered knockback jinx.**

**Also, caligraphy is something difficult to children, I should know, I'm 15 and my handwriting is only few ways away from a doctor's, but I had a friend, I say 'had' because I haven't seen _el cabron_ for years, but he had a handwriting better than my dad's, who has the neatest handwritting I've seen, and he had the amazing talent of copying what he saw with a really limited mistake margin.**

**That is why Harry could do the runes.**

**The bit with the crayon and the chalk...I read a story a long time ago, it had Harry finding a book that described how to make magical chalk, how to make dopplegangers, but the story was never continued.**

**I rembered that in most rituals pictured by pop-culture, the circles are done with chalk, salt or are carved into the floor, so I decided to fall into a possible cliché because it actually sounds believable.**

**Not much more to say, other than I'll go bacj to normal schedule of updating every story once a week once the next monday comes.**

**See you next week then.**

**Goodbye**


	3. Ten already

**The big one-zero**

***Surrey*England*July 30, 1990***

Harry sighed as he looked at the sky of the summer sky of Privet Drive.

His last two years had been mostly uneventful with the few exceptions of discovering that Lisa was like his mother: a muggle-born witch.

His mother had somehow roped him into reading with the intention of entertaining himself instead of just using books for information.

Strange that could actually work on the days he spent without Lisa on the park.

His daily walks and hours spent on the outdoors had given him a healthy pale skin rather than the unnaturally pale it was before the health check and his walks around Surrey had given his legs a good muscle tone.

Now he could run faster than before, as evidenced by his results on the sprint test in P.E.

Lisa had also introduced him to her parents; a tall, dark-haired, forest-green-eyed, serious looking actuary with a really fun-loving spirit despite his looks, and a woman of average height, black-hair and brown eyes that worked on the pediatric ward of the London General Hospital. The woman teased Lisa as much as Lily teased him.

George and Becky Turpin were their names, and as much as Lisa denied it, they were actually fun to be with, when you put aside the talks of their jobs that is.

'_It is actually quite entertaining sweety_' came Lily's voce a few seconds after he thought that.

'_You're an adult, of course it's not boring to you_' replied Harry.

"_And you'll talk about your job to Lisa when you marry her"_ said Lily amusedly.

Harry scowled, '_I AM NOT MARRYING HER MOM_' he shouted at her, '_we are friends and nothing else_'

Lily smiled, "_that is what you say now sweety, just wait until you're in your fourth year_" she said.

Harry blinked, '_I'm a fourth year already'_

Lily snickered, "_at Hogwarts dummy"_

Harry nodded, convinced that an outsider would just take him for a nutter, '_that's in five years, right?_' he felt his mother nod, '_I don't think so'_

"_Come on, you know you like her_" she said to the confusion of Harry.

'_She is my friend, of course I like her_' replied Harry.

Lily rolled her eyes, he was a ten year old, how would he be interested in girls at that age when she herself only saw James and Severus like that on her fifth year.

Severus.

That was a sore subject for her, ever since _that_ incident on the second term of her fifth year.

While she had passed the use of _that_ word as a slip due pressure and anger, it still hurt that her best friend since primary school had called her that.

Outside of Harry, a few blocks away, in the Turpin residence, the eldest daughter, as a baby boy had been born not a year ago, talked to her parents.

"We have to throw him a party, he's turning ten tomorrow!" Lisa exclaimed to her parents, both of whom rolled their eyes.

"Darling, we know he is your friend, but we need you to take care of Charlie, we found no one to babysit you two" said Rebecca Turpin as she bounced a dark-haired baby on her lap.

"He made plans for MY tenth birthday" whined Lisa.

"He asked us to take you two to the mall for a movie" said George Turpin from behind his newspaper, "with our money I must add".

Lisa glared at him, "It still was a trip to the movies, and I want to do the same for him" she turned to her mom and did her best puppy eyes, "come on mummy, at least a cake"

Becky sighed at her stubborn daughter, "Alright, one cake and only that"

Lisa cheered, now all she had to do was convince Harry to come over tomorrow and they would spend the day on the sofa eating cake.

It would be his best birthday yet.

* * *

***July 31***

"Would you stop manhandling me, woman?" said Harry angrily as an eager Lisa dragged him away from the park.

"Stop struggling Harry" replied Lisa, "when you do I'll stop dragging you"

Harry grudgingly stopped trying to stay where he stood and levelled with Lisa.

The two walked in silence, Lisa with a smile and Harry with a neutral face, which was the equivalent of a happy look on anyone else.

"Where are we going anyway?" Harry asked, breaking the silence.

He was curious, she had after all, dragged him away from the park without explanation and not even letting him get his footing even before dragging him away.

"To my house" the girl replied.

Harry blinked, confused, "why?"

"Because it's your birthday"

"That does not answer"

To any outsider they two would make an image out of a family photo or a standard picture on a frame.

It just isn't an everyday occurrence that a girl and a boy of ten walked like friends outside of a school or a park.

Maybe some of fifteen or sixteen, but not of ten.

Not that teens were commonly seen in the boring town of Little Whining, most preferred to stay indoors, in swimming pools and in the mall.

"It's your birthday, you're turning ten and you are going to celebrate it" said Lisa as they neared her house.

Harry blinked, "I've already told you, I don't care about birthday parties." He said

The girl growled, "And I told you you're celebrating it"

"I don't care about birthdays" Harry whined

'_You should just give up sweety,_' Lily said, _'You can never beat a woman in an argument_'

"And I don't care about that" Lisa almost snapped at him, "Now be quiet while we get there"

"There is no winning this, is there?" muttered Harry.

But Lisa heard him, and so did Lily, "No there_ isn't,_" said the two in tandem.

It was so incredibly he actually shuddered.

Following his friend's petition (i.e. order), Harry just walked in silence, taking her hand off his and scowling.

Eventually the two arrived to a house that like most at Little Whining didn't look out-of-place.

A warm-green façade that always helped Harry calm himself down after a stressful day, though he wasn't sure if it was the colour or the family that lived inside, with a garden brimming with flowers that looked naturally grown instead of the flowerbeds at the Dursley's.

A pair of rocking chairs sat on the porch of the house, while the open curtains let outsiders see a lot of family photos, some with only two people to, the most recent ones, five people smiling and waving (just a small one from Harry) at a camera.

Against his better judgement, as he knew a torture with the name of a celebration would take place, Harry entered the Turpin's home.

The sight that welcomed him, as it did every time he entered the house, was the image of what a home should be like: warm blue walls with a few decorations stuck to them, mostly paintings though a few family photos, and he meant a huge family reunion photos, were scattered about.

To the left were the stairs, a mirror image to the planning of his relative's house, while to the right was a chimney where a lot pictures of the family, old and new, plus Harry, mostly on ones with Lisa.

Lining the left wall of the room, the one that led to the entrance corridor, were bookshelves as tall as the room and covering the entire wall, all filled to the brim with books, some parts with books over books.

On the corner an almost unused armoire sat alone, inside of it rested one of the three televisions of the house, the other two were on the master bedroom and another, almost as unused as this one, in Lisa's room.

The dining room, if you could call a table with lots of papers strewn about on one end and proper chairs on the other.

To Harry's surprise and delight, on the end of the table that actually held places, sat a treacle fudge tart, his one and only favourite sweet, with ten candles already burning on top of it.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY HARRY" shouted both Becky and George Turpin from the table while Lisa shouted it from the doorway.

That led to the incredibly awkward happy birthday song, after which he and Lisa had to take care of little Charlie, not much of a chore as the baby stayed silent through all the movies they watched, before falling asleep on Harry's arms, much to his chagrin.

The little monster drooled on his shoulder.

He was wearing his best tee that day, damn it!

Soon enough evening came and Harry grudgingly left the Turpin's to go to his cupboard.

Oh well, he could practice there, now that he had enough space for a king sized bed in it.

It was full of books though, and his hammock was good enough for him.

* * *

***Master bedroom*Turpin Home***

**"**Honey?" Becky called, making her husband hum "do you think we should let Lisa go?"

George sighed, having already hace this discusion before, "you heard what Harry said," he started stroking his wife's hair, "it is that or her not seeing Harry ever again"

"But, what if we lose her?" she asked, pained.

"Then it will be no different than if she went of age and moved away, but we'll see her every Christams, Easter and Summer, and we can't deny her the experience," he argued.

"But what if she gets hurt?"

"It is a boarding school, my love, I doubt they don't have a infirmery, and acording to Harry it is safe"

"How could he know? He hasn't gone there yet."

"But his parents did, remember? they must have left him something to explain"

"I don't want to lose her" Becky started to cry.

"And you won't, because she'll always be our angel, right?"

George hugged her close to him, "Right" she sniffed.

* * *

**Right, the last chapter before the Hogwarts letters arrive.**

**I planned this to be the 11 birthday, but then I thought that Harry hadn't(in my story) got the letter, which, if my mind is in the right place, arrived a week before his birthday, so I changed it to that.**

**The updates will go back to (hopefully) once a week, and I say hopefully because from now on I'll have a busy life: my school is doing an outing, I'm going to Chicago with my family on the 20 (no computer) to the 25, then I have to catch up on homework the next week, then projects, a musical presentation on May, my final reviwes, my finals.**

**So yeah, hope for the best, expect the worse, so no one gets dissapointed.**

**I have nothing more to say.**

**Goodbye**


	4. The zoo and the letters

**The zoo and the letters.**

***Dursley Home*June 23 1991***

Harry woke up to the sound of his fat cousin running up and down the stairs, as somehow the oaf of a kid had managed to wake up before his aunt.

Harry dressed quickly, as he wanted to start breakfast and finish it before his uncle got up, and left his cupboard, starting up the runic array that sent away all muggles from his room.

Breakfast for the days of Vernon's and Dudley's birthdays were always particularly troublesome for Harry, as he had to prepare twice as usual, and while that made sneaking food without them noticing easier, it also meant more time in the kitchen, meaning more chances to get caught in the act.

Almost seven years of practice however, plus the addition of distraction magic, made stealing food way easier and the chances of actually getting caught were almost null.

"_Don't get cocky sweety_" Lily chided him, making him smile a bit.

'_I know, but I can't wait for this to end'_ Harry took out the necessary thing for the seven-people breakfast, two for each of the whales and one for the horse, and started pre-preparing them.

"_Don't call Petunia a horse_" Lily frowned.

'_You called her that yourself once, and she does look one_' he minced the bacon, pocketing two slices for himself, and started the oiled pan.

It was at times like this that Lily cursed James for giving their son a terminal disrespect of adults, as he even argued with her and the Turpins from time to time, "_That doesn't mean you can disrespect her_"

Harry mixed salt and milk, just a bit to add taste, and poured it into the pan when that bacon was ready, '_respect is earned, you taught me, and they haven't earned it_'

Lily sighed and just watched as Harry made batter for pancakes, really, how her brother-in-law and nephew hadn't died of heart attacks, she didn't know.

"_Will you go visit your friend?"_ she asked.

'_No, Lisa and her parents went to London today, they'll probably take me to Mrs Figg._' Harry replied as he continued checking the breakfast and sneakily put a pancake on his pocket.

Healthy, not likely, but he needed food.

The phone rang, which Harry absently listed off his mind as unninmportant, though it didn't mean he didn't listen in.

"What do you mean?" Petunia had answered, "but we can't take HIM…He could take care of you," Harry heard his aunt let out a sigh, "No it's okay…yes, we'll leave you to rest"

Vernon turned to Petune, "Who was it Pet?" Harry shuddered at the 'pet' name.

"It was Mrs Figg," she replied, "she tripped with one of her cats and broke an ankle, she can't take care of _him_"

Harry smiled a bit, it was always nice when their plans didn't turn out right, it was good to see them knocked down a peg or two.

After a tantrum by Dudley, a discussion between his relatives and a few threats, it was decided that Harry would go with them to the London zoo, as long as he kept his magic at bay.

As if he would do accidental magic, he was way past that point of control.

Harry went to his room to eat his breakfast after using his magic to heat the bacon until was cooked.

It was a good trick to know, though he would prefer to find a way for his chalk to stand the fat the pork let off, that way it would be faster.

Pier Polkins arrived a few hours later, also whining about the fact that Harry would come with them, but in the end, it was Vernon who decided, and unless Dudley wanted to miss the trip, Harry would go with them.

The trip on the car was silent, but Harry had gotten the bad end of the deal as Pier and Dudley sat on either side of him and made an effort to make his ride miserable, but his magic protected him from all the attempts at injuring him.

The zoo itself was a nice experience, the animals were calm and he stopped to talk to a few, somehow understanding them when they talked back, and got to laugh when one of the gorillas thought aloud how they had shave a member of the group.

The best part was the reptile house, as reptiles made rather interesting conversation partners, specially the chameleons; they had a rather interesting sense of humour.

Snakes also made good conversational partners, as they were divided in two groups; the ones born in captivity and the ones captured from the wild.

The ones born in captivity all wanted to get out to experience the outside world by themselves and the ones captured wanted to stay, as the only problem they had to fight every day was the annoyance from little children that tapped the glass.

Food was provided, heat was provided as was refuge and entertainment, as opposed to the wild, where you had to fight every second to live another day.

Lily was miffed at her son, who could speak to all the animals and they could in turn speak to him, something she had only read about in books from the Potter library and Hogwarts.

It was one of many abilities that magical people could have, but with no new blood to add to the big ball of wibbly wobbly pure-blood family tree abilities like it were dying out, much like the parsel tongue and metamorhmagus talents, though only Britain, Spain, Russia and South-Africa still cared about blood purity.

Other countries preferred racism and nationalism, the USA being the prime example.

Now that she thought about it, the best wizarding worlds she had read about were the Finnish and the Rumanian.

Damn, was the world fucked up.

Harry, ignorant to his mother's musings, continued to talk to the Brazilian boa constrictor, who was one of many snakes that wanted to see the world, though it was because his mother, it was a male he had been assured, had told him stories of when she used to roam the floors of the Amazons, eating the rodents that got in her way.

Of course, his good conversation was rudely interrupted by Dudley smashing into him and throwing him to the ground.

Harry scowled before smiling evilly, an idea forming on his head, and so, he walked away, making his magic reach for the crystal that separated the snake's habitat from Dudley.

As soon as he was out of sight, he vanished the glass and enjoyed the wails of Dudley, who had fallen to the snake's tank.

The snake passed Harry on his way out and nodded to him, "Adiossss amigo, and thaksss" it said.

"Welcome," Harry muttered and waved at the constrictor.

He enjoyed the sight of a shivering and frightened Dudley the rest of the day.

The best part was that because he wasn't seen, he wasn't punished.

Lily sighed, "_You remind me too much of your father sometimes_"

Harry smiled, '_thanks_' and he meant it.

* * *

***Weeks later***

June turned to July and soon it was just a week before Harry's eleventh birthday, and he had spent the night of July 20 in the Turpin's house, as he had fallen asleep on the couch during a movie night.

It was because of this that when Lisa came, shouting, into the living room, Harry had fallen off the couch and to the floor.

Harry stood up with a scowl, ignoring the snickers from his friend, and glared at her for waking him up.

"Is there any particular reason that you felt it necessary to wake me with your screaming?" he scowled.

Lisa showed what she had clutched between her hands; a Hogwarts letter, "an owl woke me up and gave me this," she answered, "I wrote back when it hit home"

Harry yawned and smiled at her, offering his arms for the girl, who didn't hesitate to crush his ribs in excitement.

Nearly three years since her first hug like that and he still didn't understand why his magic armour did nothing to protect him.

A tap on the window made their attention, and Becky's too, since she had seen the hug, turn to an owl that was hitting the glass with its beak.

Harry opened the window to let the animal in, following it with his eyes as it flew around the living/dining room and settled on the table.

"You came from Hogwarts?" he asked the bird, to the envy of his friend who could not understand animals.

The bird nodded, "are they waiting for a reply?" another bob of its head.

Harry took a piece of paper, there always was a notebook at hand at the Turpin's, and wrote the reply.

_To whom it may concern._

_I will gladly attend to your school, but I expect to continue my muggle education while there, there are simply more options in the world I live in than in the magical one, and I would like to stay off the spot-light._

_If you can inform me of a way to go ahead with both educations, it would be wonderful._

_Yours truly._

_Harry Potter._

Harry tied the reply to the owl's leg, which took flight as soon as it was secured.

"Why can you talk to animals?" Lisa whined, "Can you imagine what I could learn from them?"

After his rather amusing visit to the zoo a month ago, he had told his friend about his talent for speaking with animals, much to her envy, as she would no doubt like to have it just for asking animals what their perception of life was.

"I don't know why, but I do" Harry looked at the envelope, to see where it was addressed.

He wasn't disappointed, "how did they know I was sleeping in the couch"

_Harry Potter_

_The Living Room Couch._

_Number 10 Silent Way_

"The same way they knew where I slept" said Lisa

_Lisa Turpin_

_Middle bedroom._

_Number 10 Silent Way_

"Magic is creepy" the two jumped as Mrs Turpin spoke behind them, "I would think they are stalking you"

"Please don't do that Mrs Turpin," Harry said as he took deep breaths, "I could lash out"

"I know you wouldn't Harry," Becky said, a bit amused, "you're too much of a sweetheart to do it."

Mr Turpin came down the stairs with Charlie to see his daughter and her friend reading the letters on the couch while his wife was cooking breakfast in the Kitchen.

"Hello everyone" he greeted, bouncing Charlie on his arms, to the joy of the baby.

They all greeted him back, while Lisa took Charlie to play with him.

Breakfast was served and the rest of the morning was entirely normal, at least, until someone knocked on the door.

* * *

**And so, the pre-magical world saga ends, next chapter, a visit from McGonagall and the Diagon Alley.**

**I'll be in Chicago for a week, so the next update will be in two weeks.**

**Nothing to add, refer to the latest chapter of Mexican Mages for beast speak.**

**See you**


	5. Diagon Alley

**Diagon Alley.**

***Turpin House*July 20***

Professor Minerva McGonagall was a woman that liked everything to be organized, for an organized life was the sign of an organized mind, and she prided herself in the fact that the only woman as organized as herself was the regent Longbottom, a woman she was friends with ever since their own days at school.

They still met from time to time; it was quite nice to drink whiskey in the company of friends.

It was because she was so organized that she planned every day of her job and kept enough time for herself every day.

She didn't want to be like Albus, bless his soul but the man had only ten minutes of free time for every day he worked.

Every day of the summer she would visit a muggle-born's house, explained what the letter was and why it had arrived, took the family to Diagon Alley so they could buy the needed things for the upcoming year, left them with a small leaflet to explain how Hogwarts taught, took them to platform 9&¾ so they could find it on September first and then retired to her personal quarters for the rest of the day, where she would spend up to an hour sorting through the reply letters and the rest of the evening reading her transfiguration journals or the book she chose to entertain herself with between the bi-yearly issues.

Today she was to visit Lisa Turpin, a girl of the Little Whining area of Surey that if reports were to be believed had a head-strong personality and a good memory retention and wit.

An exemplar Ravenclaw if she were to believe someone else's word.

But she hadn't gotten as far as being the best transfiguration mistress in the British Isles by taking for granted what other people said, oh no, she had gotten to her position by questioning everything that she heard and experimenting to prove it.

So here she was, looking through the window in her cat form to see if she could get a good reading on what the family was like.

The cat animagus didn't see anyone in the living-room but on the dining room, if it could be called that.

They looked like a tight bunch, that would be good, nothing better for a muggle-born than supporting parents.

So she knocked on the door and waited for it to open.

"I'll get it" she heard a boy say inside the house.

Strange, she was sure that the reports listed only a brother that was a year old at best.

The door opened to reveal a boy that looked so much like the prankster James Potter had at eleven that she had to make an effort to hold in the gasp that threatened to leave her.

As it was though, she kept her strict exterior, "Is Miss Turpin home?" she asked.

The boy nodded at her, "You're the Hogwarts professor right?" McGonagall nodded slowly, "good, you can explain me how I'm going to keep my muggle education during my seven years there, I've been looking for a job that takes me to places"

McGonagall followed the boy silently, wondering how had the boy-who-lived met with a muggle-born.

The probabilities were so low!

"Excuse me Mr…?" she started.

"Potter" the boy said, "Harrison James Potter" the two came into the living room, "She's taking us somewhere"

"Harry" there was a slight warning tone in Mrs. Turpin voice, the same tone McGonagall used on her students. "What have I told you about guests?"

Harry recognized the tone, but he had built a small immunity to the lower levels of it over the years, "to get them to you or smash the door on their faces if you are not here" Harry smirked as she started to glare, "and to let them explain themselves."

"And what are you doing?" Harry saw Mr Turpin smirk.

"Well I brought her here, didn't I?" he replied smiling, "And she told me she came from Hogwarts already"

McGonagall cleared her throat, "Am I right to assume that Mr Potter already told you about magic?"

Harry and Lisa nodded, "Yeah, but he was a meany about it" Lisa said.

"I told you you were a witch"

"But you said it out of nowhere"

"After you summoned a book"

"Because you threw it"

"You were about to hit me with it"

"You were reading over my shoulder"

"It was the only copy"

"You could have made it less of an insult"

The transfiguration mistress asked for a seat at the table, making the two amused parents nod, "is this a normal occurrence?" McGonagall asked.

The Turpin's glanced at each other and nodded, "They have a discussion like this every week" started Mr Turpin.

"But they end up going into unrelated topics after the first minute" continued Mrs Turpin.

As if to prove her point they heard Harry say, "and I told you that monkeys think us amusing the same we think that of them"

The adult Turpins acted like there was nothing going on, "They end up playing some movie at the end"

"Mulan is better" they heard Harry again.

"NO, Aladdin is" Lisa replied.

"The story of a vagabond that tries to be rich to impress a lady"

"And Mulan is a fighting story"

"No it isn't, it is about overcoming the status quo"

"Prove it" Lisa challenged

"Alright" Harry moved to the armoire and selected one of the VHS before putting it on the player.

The two sat down on the couch as the movie began, letting the adults on relative silence.

"Right," George started again, "now that the two are quiet, what was your plan, Miss…?" he let it hang on the air.

"Professor McGonagall, please," the professor said, "And I was first planning on introducing you to magic"

"Yeah, Harry did us that favour a few years ago" Mr Turpin commented.

"After that," if McGonagall heard him she gave no sign, "I was to take you to Diagon Alley to buy the supplies your daughter will need"

"Oh I hope you don't mind Harry tagging along," Mrs Turpin said, "His relative would never do anything with magic"

"Surely they would take him to Diagon"

"They wouldn't," Harry called out, not taking his eyes off the TV, "the whale senior hates unnatural stuff and the horse hates mum," He was swatted by Lisa.

"Be quiet" she hissed.

"Right" Said Minerva McGogall.

* * *

***London*The leaky cauldron*Noon***

Harry used his illusionary magic, one of his worst field for magic, to cover himself as for the third time a wizard he knew nothing of tried to greet him enthusiastically after seeing his awesome scar.

He shouldn't hide it, but it was the only way to avoid a mob.

"This way please" professor McGonagall said as she led them through the dark pub and into the back of the local.

"This" the professor explained, "is the muggle entrance to Diagon Alley, so pay attention you two; this is what you have to do to open it" she pointed a stick to a brick on the wall.

"_It's a wand, sweety"_ Lily said.

'_It looks like stick, only the feel of it is different_' he replied

She tapped three bricks, and smiled thinly as the bricks shifted and created and archway into the alley itself.

The Turpins gaped at the incredible view of the magical shops, the impressive number of wizards milling about, the blatant magical energy that permeated the air itself.

Harry just raised an eyebrow.

That's apathy for you

"Welcome," the professor said, "To Diagon Alley"

She led them through the cobblestone street towards an impressive and imposing marble, passing through shops that sold things they hadn't even know existed, like dragon meat and blood, flobberworms, bubbotuber's puss.

Harry made sure to make a stop at the Quality Quiditch Supplies on the way back.

"_You can't take a broomstick until second year_"

'_You said it yourself, I'm my father's son_' He smirked as he dodged the people on the streets, '_I'll find a way_'

Lily sighed, _"You will not sneak a broom into school_"

'_Who says I need to, I only need a second year friend_'

"_HOW ARE YOU GOING TO DO THAT"_

Harry said nothing.

The marble building turned out to be the bank, with goblins guarding it and managing it, adding to the already high intimidation because of the poem on the front.

"_You're going to have to separate from them; you need to go to the Potter accountant_" Harry didn't argue, he was curious of the family fortune after all.

"Wait for me when you're finished, will you?" he told Lisa and her parents, who frowned but nodded in consent, "family business, sorry"

He walked to one of the tellers, a younger looking goblin when compared to the fossils on some other booths.

"I need to speak with manager Twistblade" Harry said, making the gobbling glance at him.

"And who," the goblin sneered, "wants to speak with him?"

The raven-haired kid let the illusion on his forehead drop and moved his hair away from the lightning scar, "Harrison James Potter"

The goblin looked at the scar closely and then at his face as a whole, looking for any sign that the wizard that had dared come into the bank with a glamour on was not wearing another.

Eventually, the goblin leaned back and pressed something on his desk, before looking back at Harry again.

"People on disguise are not welcome here" nevertheless, eventually an even younger-looking goblin came and told Harry to follow him before moving, not even bothering to check of the wizard was following.

The goblin led Harry through a maze of corridors and doors, only stopping on intersections to check if the way was the correct one, until eventually they stopped on a door that read 'Twistblade, Potter account Manager'

The goblin knocked on the door and waited for the go-ahead, to which he shoved Harry into the room and left.

"_Be_ _respectful, but forceful if needed_" Harry sent a nod.

"Are you my account manager?" Harry asked an elderly goblin that sat behind an ornate desk on an ornate chair.

The goblin was a contrast to the highly decorated furniture, as it was wearing a plain suit with only a small medal on the chest, "That depends on if you are who you say you are" Twistblade replied in a raspy voice.

"I am Harrison James Potter, Son of Lillian and James Potter"

"Prove it" Twistblade said, "prove that you are Harrison Potter, call your ring to you"

That was unexpected.

According to his mother, every family had four kind of rings for the different kind of family members; the Lord ring for the current head of house, the Lady ring for the current Lady, the heir ring for the eldest male son, and the scion ring for the younger siblings and the first-born in case it was a daughter.

So all he had to do was call either a scion or an heir ring and hope for the best.

He hated having to hope instead of being sure of something.

Harry let out a breath and spoke the words that came to him, "Ring of the Potter House, come to me, the heir of the family, the next of the Heads and mark me as the proper choice."

A flash of light blinded them and Harry felt something on his right ring-finger, the heir ring had settled on his hand.

It was a sliver band, with a crest carved on it; two swords clashing over an ornate-looking piece of pottery.

So the Potters were both crafters and warriors, how nice to know that.

"Right," the goblin spoke after he finished looking at the ring, "now that you have proved your identity I will hand over a copy of your bank statements so you can go over them"

He handed Harry a large, leather-bound book after removing it from somewhere in the desk.

"_Well that's not right_" Lily said, confusion but happiness on her voice.

'_Why is that mum?_'

"_Last time I checked, the fortune only went unto the fifty million galleons, fourteen million sickles and nine hundred thousand knuts_"

'_And that is bad because…?'_

"_It isn't but unless you have shares on some company, BIG shares, the best you could have would be a less than a hundred millions, not more_"

Harry nodded, "Could you please tell me why I'm a billionaire when I'm sure that I was only in the millions?"

"That would be because of your guardian made sure that every profit by the selling of merchandise with the name Harry Potter or the tittle 'The-Boy-Who-Lived' would give you a twenty-per-cent" Twistblade replied, "with the average sell of ten pieces of merchandise per day over the last ten years, plus the one-per-cent interest rate that all the Potter vaults have and the investments on Florean Fortescue's Ice-cream, Florish and Blott's, the Three Broomsticks and Zonko's all add up to the value you have there.

"It is, however, not the full value of the Potter Estate, as the heirlooms and artefacts in the main vault are not stated, those articles however, include the Potter Library, transported here as soon as the wards on the Potter Manor house were breached, weapons collected through the ages, furniture salvaged from the Potter's cottage on Godrick's Hollow, painting from all previous Head of House and the wands from previous Potters'

"This adds up to a value of at least one-hundred-and-twenty-five per-cent of the value you see on the ledger for the entirety of the Potter Estate"

That was a lot of money, no way around it.

He was a billionaire with a lot of books and heirlooms.

Lisa would melt with jealousy.

"There is, however, a clause on the family ledger that states that the only money the heir and any scions of the family can only remove money from their trust vaults and that any heirloom taken from the main vault must be authorized by the Head of house."

'_Bloody hell_' that took away so much reading material.

"_Let Twistblade finish sweety_" Lily said, "_and watch your language_"

"The previous Head of house left a signed note stating that in the event of his death, the heir of the family could take a many-book with the condition that the grimoire and a copy of the Hogwarts rule-book are in it at every time and that a five-compartment trunk will be taken from the vault in which the shelve "

'_Many-book?_' he asked.

"_One of the best creations ever_" Lily sighed in contentment, "_It is a library within a single book, the only thing you have to do is put the books you want in the shelve linked to the book you grabbed and you can chose what book to read in the index_"

'_And I say it again, Lisa will be so jealous_'

* * *

***Alley*One hour later***

Lisa glared at Harry, HARD, and it was all because of the many-book on his pocket.

The emerald-eyed boy sighed, "you can borrow it at any time, you know"

The glaring got down a little, "promise" she held out her pinkie.

Harry rolled his eyes but intertwined his own pinkie with hers, "I swear it, you just have to ask"

She grinned at him and dragged him back to her parents.

The only stop now was Olivander's, though it would be great if they could stop at the pet shop, even if any animal HE bought would have to stay at the Turpin's during breaks.

He would have to make the Turpins' not to mention the things with his name on it.

Lisa was a friend, but could be unbearable at times.

* * *

**I had to cut it there, unless you wanted me to make it 3K long.**

**This is oficially the last pre-Hogwarts chapter, next will be the train-ride and the sorting, hopefully.**

**I bought Bioshock infinte, best damn game ever.**

**The story-line is as messy as the Doctor's with the three changes through the tears and the multiverse-theory explonation, but the game-play...ah, the only time I've been as happy to play a game was when I bought Codename:Panzers.**

**And there was the future/Comstock house level, it tried my heart and hand when I passed through that thing with the louspeakers on its head and the creppy cut-off faces.**

**Now, my schedule of the month will be busy, with four weeks straight of exams, updates may take up to two weeks until summer vacation.**

**Goodbey all**


	6. I like trains

**I like trains**

***Platform 9&3/4*September 1st*10 o'clock***

Harry petted his snowy owl Hedwig on the backseat of the family sedan of the Turpin's who had agreed to let him sleep over with the excuse that he wouldn't have to walk all the way from Privet Drive to Silent Way.

That was of course ignoring that Whale senior would say no to anything he asked, especially concerning Hogwarts.

Ah Hogwarts, the epitome of both wizard stupidity and of magic's greatness.

The first because according to McGonagall there was no semblance of muggle education in Hogwarts, the only thing coming close was arithmancy, the study of numbers and shapes in magic crafts.

The second because even if the standards had dropped since the Blood-war, it still was in the top-three schools of Magic, even if it was the third.

Right there behind Salem Academy and Dumstrang.

Speaking of muggles though, he could feel Becky and George looking to the backseat of the sedan to check if Hedwig had done anything to the car.

As if she would, she was just as smart as he was, if not smarter.

"_She is a smart owl_" Lily said.

'_Of course she is_' Harry replied, '_I would not have a dumb animal as a pet, much less a familiar…_'

"_It would make everyone assume that you are as smart as the animal_" interrupted Lily, "_I love you sweety, but you are too predictable sometimes"_

Harry scowled, '_Thank you, mum_' he said sarcastically.

"_You know I love you sweety_" she said, making the boy sigh

'_I know, I love you too mum_'

Harry leaned back and let Hedwig perch on his shoulder, his magic reacting by making his skin tougher, even if it wasn't needed as the snowy owl was totally mindful of her considerable strength.

Then Lisa nudged him and he had to lean forward without moving Hedwig, who had tucked her head under her wing, "What?" Harry asked.

"You have school books here" she showed him the index of the many-book, "normal, non-magical school books"

Harry raised his eyebrow at her making her blush in embarrassment.

His eyebrows were sign of either annoyance or interest.

He was raising his annoyance one

"Unlike you," he drawled, "I took measures to ensure our continued muggle education"

Lisa nodded sheepishly nodded before selecting one of his many fiction books.

They were dominant in his shelf after all.

* * *

***King's Cross Station***

Harry's mouth twitched in an effort of a smirk at the stupefied and confused glances he attracted.

After the first five minutes, the attention Hedwig received passed from annoying to amusing, especially considering how the owl reacted to different looks.

The most amusing reaction was when she puffed her breasts as a girl said she looked beautiful.

"You are the vainest person I've met" he whispered making sure no one but Hedwig heard.

"Don't compare me to the rest of your species" Hedwig hooted, "The only one you can do that with is with your mate"

"Not my mate, just a friend" Harry scowled, "I have not reached maturity yet"

The white owl let out a hoot that sounded a lot like a scoff, "You are the most mature out of your nest"

That could go without saying on most weekends.

Sometimes he swore that Becky and George were just teenagers trapped in an adult's body with how they acted.

Harry completely ignored the fact that according to his mum, his father was worse.

"Still, you should admit that you let praise go to your head"

Hedwig only dug her talons on his shoulder as response, making his magic harden his arm even more.

He was close to overloading it now.

Soon enough they reached the doorway between the muggle station and platform 9&3/4 and the kids turned to face the adults.

The adult Turpins' keeled down so they could see their children, even if Harry wasn't related he was family with how much time he spent with them, and pulled them into a group hug, little Charlie squirming on his mother's back.

"Take care of each other," whispered Mr Turpin, "don't get in trouble"

"You bought your owl for a reason Harry" Mrs Turpin continued, "send us a letter once a week, more often if you can"

"We will" said both children as they hugged the adults back, tears running down their faces, Lisa's more so than Harry's.

That didn't mean he wasn't crying hard though.

"And please, if you need anything, no matter what, send us a message" Becky finished and they separated.

Harry nodded to Lisa motioning that she cross the barrier first while he went second, but he wanted to do one more thing before crossing.

"Thank you," George and Becky turned to Harry who had his back to them, "for everything, uncle George, aunt Becky," and with that he crossed into the magical platform.

The adults looked at each other, before smiling and shaking their heads.

It was about time he said it.

* * *

***Platform 9&3/4***

Harry raised both eyebrows in surprise, before running his hand through his hair; the sheer number of magical people milling about, chatting or saying goodbye.

Not only that, but the majestic train on the background of a brilliant, shining red colour so like his mother's own.

It was a great image, one he took care to burn into his mind.

It wasn't before long that he was pulled along by Lisa, who wanted nothing more than to explore the train.

That meant he was the designated luggage boy.

Oh joy.

With twenty minutes to eleven, Harry was able to drag Lisa into an empty compartment by the middle of the train, where he put their trunks on the railings above their heads, Hedwig following soon after of her own accord, allowing his magic to retreat from his shoulder, which was starting to grow numb by the magic flowing through it.

The two watched through the compartment's window as parents came and went while children and young adults boarded the train or waited for someone in the platform.

When only ten minutes for departure were left, the biggest family had ever seen walked through the barrier and Harry could count six people, all of them gingers and only one of them old enough to be out of school, meaning she was probably the mother, and one younger than Harry and Lisa.

He was only interested in the twins of the family however, as there was something interesting in them, something that seemed oddly familiar.

He overheard them as they left came to their mother again a few moments after they greeted a dark boy with long hair, "Oh, are you a prefect Percy?" Harry, who used sarcasm fairly often, recognized it from where he was.

"You should have said something, we had no idea"

"Oh wait, I think I remember him saying something about it"

"Once"

"Or twice"

"A minute"

"All summer"

So that's what he had felt, that sense of mischief, a something only a prankster could have.

He had to meet them.

"Don't worry Ginny" he heard them when the whistle of the train blew-

"We'll send you lots of owls"

"We'll send you a Hogwarts toilet seat"

Oh yeah, he had to meet them soon.

He stood up, making both Hedwig and Lisa turn to him, "I am going to meet someone," he said as he moved to the door.

"No, you are not going to meet up with those trouble makers that you heard over the window" Lisa said.

"I am not meeting with trouble makers," Harry said, making Lisa look at him with a deadpan expression, "I am going to meet with an interesting someone I saw"

With that Hary walked out the compartment, leaving an openly annoyed Lisa in the compartment.

Oh well, at least she had the many-book with her still.

Back with Harry though, he was on a mission; an alliance with pranksters could benefit him greatly, and it would solve his flying broomstick problem if he managed to do everything right in his meeting with those twins.

For nothing more than coincidence, Harry found them three cars up in a compartment with the dark-skinned boy they had greeted on the platform.

He entered the room without knocking and closed the door behind him, ignoring every instinct that told him to leave it open for a possible fast retreat way, "gentleman" he greeted as he sat down on one corner, "I would like to introduce myself"

The three older boys looked at each other and engaged in a silent conversation, nodding or shaking their head almost unnoticeably.

A minute later, the nodded and stood up, leaving the compartment after a curt nod towards him.

"Well then," started the twin on the left.

"Who is it that wants to meet us?" said the twin on the right.

Well, it was now or never, "my name," he started, "is Harry Potter, and I could not help but overhear the farewell you gave who I presume was your sister"

The twins looked at each other and back at Harry, "well Fred, It seems we have a celebrity interested on us," said the twin on the left.

"Indeed George, the great and mighty Harry Potter wants to meet us" said Fred, the twin on the right.

He may be onto telling them apart, but it would take time to prove his assumptions correct

"But I wonder my dear brother," said George

"What could such a great man" said Fred

"Want with us lowly pranksters?" finished the two together.

"Your hand in friendship would be good," he answered, "a deal is the goal though, mutual benefit"

The twins looked at each other again before nodding and leaning in, "do tell" the two said.

"I am a first year," the two nodded and rolled their eyes, silently telling him to move on, "there is a rule that says I can't have a broomstick on the grounds until next year"

"Oh, I get it" said George, adding evidence to his theory.

"You want our help with smuggling a broom" said Fred.

"Not quite," Harry replied, "the whole article of the Hogwarts rule book states that, and I quote 'A first year is not allowed to take a broomstick inside the school grounds, however, he is allowed to borrow someone else's own broom as long as the owner of said broom is supervising'" he saw a spark on both sets of eyes.

"Well dear Harrykins" once again George started the sentence, proving him right again.

"You are lucky that we are part of the quidditch team" said Fred.

"However," they made sad faces, though Harry could detect a bit of longing there, "our broom are for beaters"

"Slow and manoeuvrable, but not really good for anything outside the game"

"So you couldn't get the most out of an experience" the two finished

'_Good, hopefully this will leave me outside the targetable area of the student body_' he thought, a small smile playing on his lips, "I'm willing to negotiate with you, in exchange for using them whenever I want, I will give the money needed to buy each of you a broomstick of your choice, as long as it is not the new Nimbus"

Once again the twins locked eyes and Harry prepared himself for what he knew would be a lengthy negotiation.

The twins looked back at him, and he was surprised to see all trace of mischief in their eyes gone, "We will not accept pity Harry Potter, if you want to get on our good sides you will need more than that," if he wasn't shocked into silence, Harry would have made a note on his knowledge of the twins.

"The offer is tempting, we will give you that, but just because we need better brooms doesn't mean we will accept charity," said Fred

"It's not charity when you do it for your own gain," Harry replied as gravely as the twins, "I made the offer to you because you are pranksters, not because you need monetary help," He sighed and leaned back on the couch, "one of the few memories I have of before my parents were murdered, is of me, joyfully riding a toy broom while my mother chased me and my father smiled from the kitchen," a small tear slid from his eye, "I have spent ten years in the muggle world without experiencing the same again and the only reason I made the offer to you was so I could do it whenever I wanted without getting in trouble and to start a friendship with someone who could teach me things not even the teachers could," Harry stood up and moved to the door, "so thank you for assuming things without thinking".

The raven-haired kid tried to open the door, but found it to be locked so he turned to glare at the twins, only to see them smiling at him, "you Mister Potter" started George

"Have got yourself a deal" continued Fred.

"Give us until tomorrow morning" said George.

"We'll tell you what brooms to get by then" finished Fred.

The two twins stood up, unlocked the door and pushed him out, living him in the corridor, blinking in confusion.

'_Did they just..?_'

"_Yes sweety, they pranked you, and you gave them possible blackmail material_"

"Bloody hell" he said out loud, before moving back to his and Lisa's compartment.

* * *

***With Lisa***

The young dark-haired witch had been sitting at the couch, reading one of the many fiction books Harry had tucked in his shelf when a boy and two girls entered the compartment and looked at her.

"Mind if we sit in here," spoke the boy with a thick Italian accent, "we don't want any more into the train, the purists are down there"

Lisa nodded her agreement and turned her attention from the book to the new occupants, taking in their looks.

The boy was Italian, or at least spent a lot of time there judging by his accent, but his olive skin and eyes and dark hair said that he WAS of Italic descent.

One of the girls made Lisa twitch with a bit of envy, as her features were really regal and defined, which combined with her long black hair and blue made her look as something akin to a princess, a contrast to her own rather plain looks.

The other girl was more like Lisa in the looks department, with a normal-looking face, hazel eyes and wavy brown hair, but like the other girl, she just gave off confidence.

"The owl yours?" asked the boy.

"No," Lisa answered, "she belongs to a friend" the muggle-born said.

"Lucky whoever it is," said the dark-skinned boy, "I had to leave mine at home with my mother"

"Before you start complaining of your mother's habits," the boy was interrupted by the blond girl, "I believe it would be better for you to introduce yourself first" she said coldly, before turning to Lisa, "I'm sorry for his attitude, I'm Daphne Greengrass"

"Lisa Turpin" Lisa introduced herself.

"Sorry, I'm Blaize Zabini" the Italian boy said.

"And I'm Tracey Davis, pleased to meet you Lisa" Tracey said enthusiastically.

The four made light conversation until someone else entered the compartment; it was Harry, rubbing his forehead with a confused look on his face.

Hedwig gave off a questioning hoot, to which Harry spoke, "no, I'm fine, but a bit confused."

"What Happened Harry?" questioned Lisa, already forming a theory on what had happened.

"I met up with the persons I wanted to" the boy, Harry, the others realized, "we ended up striking up a deal, but they made, unconsciously mind you, give them blackmail material"

"As bad as..?" started Lisa, only to be interrupted.

"No, but they will probably be calling favours during the term, until I can get even" he answered.

Blaize chose that moment to clear his throat loudly, making Harry turn to him and prepare both his holly wand and his magic tendrils, "and you are?" the Italian boy questioned.

Harry assessed the additions to the compartment, taking extra time to look over the boy, who looked like the most dangerous of the three, the blond being a really close second, "Harry, I won't say a surname until you prove worthy" he saw the blonde girl nod in what he thought was approval, but as she was wearing the same apathetic face he did he could not really tel.

Introductions came from the three, and Harry received a reproachful look from Lisa, who was most likely annoyed that he refused to be polite.

Hey, he didn't know any of them; they could be bullies for all he knew.

But he still tried to be polite, or as polite as a boy with apathy towards the world and terminal disrespect for any new person he met could be when conversing.

Harry could say by lunch time that he had a good read on the other three personalities: Davis was enthusiastic; much like Lisa had been back when they met, but more so, as the Turpin had mellowed out once she started reading.

Zabini was a rich kid, no way around it; his parents, mother only if he read between the lines well enough, were filthy rich and never denied him anything when he asked, but he had made an effort to not let himself get spoiled, like his little sister, who was five years younger.

Greengrass was the hardest to decipher because of her own apathetic persona, but he managed to gather that much like him, she was protective of her own person and the two close to her, three if he counted her sister.

He could eventually get close to them, but it would take a lot of time, probably two school years, though one and a half were most likely.

His relative piece was interrupted when a girl with bushy brown hair opened the door without knocking, completely ignoring etiquette rules, "how rude" he was ignoring the fact that he had done the same not three hours ago.

"Excuse me, but have any of you seen a toad? Neville has lost his" the bushy haired girl nodded towards a chubby boy that looked like he wanted nothing more than to sink on the earth.

"_Hey, that's Alice's kid_" Lily shouted, "_The years were better to you_"

'_You mean to tell me that that kid is my god-brother_' he heard the negatives from everyone on the room, but he held his hand out to motion the two outside to wait, '_He looks like fright would send him over the edge_'

Harry raised his head and looked at the two, "No, I'm afraid I haven't seen a toad, you are however, feel free to join us when you finish your search, Mister Longbottom"

That was apparently the right thing to say as the boy gave him a big smile and a nod.

Another hour passed in light conversation, only changing when the kid from before, Neville Longbottom joined them, though it was painfully obvious that he lacked confidence.

Once again they were interrupted by a blonde haired kid that looked remarkably like an albino weasel, "I heard that Harry Potter is on the train, have any of you seen him?" the boy asked.

Harry spoke before anyone else could, "I'm afraid I haven't seen Harry Potter today" that was true, he hadn't looked in the mirror today, "but I'm sure he is somewhere away from the animals, and that he would like to stay that way"

He heard two of the girls snort, probably Lisa and Tracey.

How nice, they got the play on the appearance of the ponce.

"How dare you speak to me like that" said the ponce, "do you know who I am?"

"A boy with arrogance issues," his eyes looked at the goons the ponce had behind him, "and a questionable sexuality"

This time Blaize made no effort to hold on a guffaw of laughter, and even shy Neville chuckled a bit, "How dare you, I am a Malfoy, Draco Malfoy"

Harry, not to let the opportunity go, put his hands behind his head and stretched his feet, crossing them as he said, "and I am Bond, James Bond"

That made it for Lisa, who was now close to collapsing from the laughter and had several laugh-tears running down her cheeks.

"Wait 'till my father hears of this…" he was once again interrupted by Harry, who made a motion towards Neville.

"Make sure to add 'Daddy Issues' to his psychological report" he said with the air of a doctor, making Blaize join Lisa on the floor, "I believe that some more sessions of therapy will cure this patient"

The blond left the room with an enraged shout, and Harry allowed himself an amused scoff.

It was so fun to get inside the mind of arrogant idiots.

It was apparently a common opinion, as he saw that even Daphne, who he had pegged as cold as ice, had an amused smile on her face.

Let's try again, they would probably grow on him during the year.

**WOOOOOOO, I'm back baby, and I bring presents.**

**It has been almost thirteen days since I've posted anything, but I bring you an update for my three mst-liked stories and a new one, a crossover with Naruto and BioShock, be sure to check it out in my profile.**

**To the fans I had on The Hybrids, I am sorry to say that I've deleted it, as inspiration for it never came back ever since my last update nearly a month ago, but I have the documents and when the inspiration comes back I will repost it.**

**I was inspired in this chapter, as shown by the 3.5K words on it and the rather funny, in my personal opinion, ending scene.**


	7. Sorting

**Sorting**

***Hogsmade Village*Scotland*Eight PM***

'_That is an impressive sight_' Harry thought as soon as the castle came into view, and if the amazed gasps all around him were any indication, his new year mates thought so as well.

The castle itself was impressive, with its imposing height and thousands of windows, several towers that, well towered, over the rest of the castle in six different places.

Adding to the image were the flickering lights that could be seen from every single one of the visible windows, giving it the impression that every room was in use.

The dark sky also helped the castle, bathing it and the grounds in the moonlight and giving it a clam vibe that complimented the ancient feel of the ambient magic that Harry could already start to feel.

And the lake, the perfect mirror as it was totally calm with only the slight breeze causing a few ripples when it hit the water, giving the reflection of both the sky and the castle with all its flickering lights.

"_Yes, I had a similar reaction_" Lily said, watching through her son's eyes, "_I was very much more expressive though_" she added.

"Why aren't you impressed?" hissed Lisa from her place at his side, clutching him so she would not trip or slip on the slippery stone path, "it's beautiful"

"It is," Harry agreed, "and I am impressed, awed even, at the sight this place offers, but I do not like to gape in public"

"You awfully remind me of someone I know" muttered Blaize, "who could it be?" he pointedly looked at Daphe as he said this.

"He knows when to display emotions and how to play on a person's personalities" the girl said stiffly, "the perfect conduct for an heir of a Most Ancient and Most Noble house"

"You're going to have to teach me about tittles," Harry said as he slowed down a little to allow them to catch up, "The only thing I know is that I'm becoming a Lord as soon as I turn seventeen."

"You know nothing about politics" Daphne stated more than asked, but Harry nodded anyway, "I'll be willing to help you if you are willing to make an alliance with my House when you become of age" she said.

"Only if can teach well enough" Harry countered, "and I keep the right to go back if I think you're leading me on"

"Deal" Daphne said.

"Damn, not another one," whined Tracey, "I have enough with one cold, political thinking friend, two will be too much"

"Well, it is tree of us normal kids against two of them" Blaize pointed out, "we can always leave them when they start politicking"

"Is that even a word?" Lisa asked, "I've never heard it, and I've hear the word defenestrating"

"And you don't know 'politicking'?" Blaize asked, "Really, goes to show you've not payed enough attention to adults"

"I'm eleven" Lisa growled, "of course I don't pay attention to adults"

"She's got a point," Harry pointed out, "adult talk is boring, I much prefer reading over listening to a grown up talking about what they did during the day"

"And I do listen to my parents talk, but they talk math and medicine," Lisa said, "not politics"

"Her parents are an actuary and a nurse" Harry said, "It is dreadfully boring to hear them talk about their jobs, unless they have a funny anecdote to tell"

"Actuary?" asked Trecey.

Lisa sighed, "My dad works in a company, and he is part of the department that calculates the monetary income and outcome of every product they give or of the benefits they offer to the employees"

Daphne hummed, "That is an interesting thing, I may have to contact father and mother about this" she muttered.

"Oh god no" Blaize rubbed his head, "now she'll be in thinking mode for the rest of the day"

* * *

***Great hall entrance***

As the giant that had picked them up at the station dropped them off at the entrance hall of the castle after a word with Professor McGonagall, Harry admired the structure around him, recognizing it as an architectural marvel.

He only paid attention to the houses and the bit of the House Cup of McGonagall's speech, favouring the observation of the castle and nearby suits of armour that looked at the students through their metal heads.

What an interesting piece of decoration.

"_They're enchanted sweety"_ Lily said as she felt his curiosity spike.

'_So you've told me, but I want to know how they've lasted so long_'

"_The enchantments on them are tied to the ley lines under the school"_

'_That would overload them, you've told me that iron isn't a good conductor for magic, the reason it is used in cauldrons_'

"Do you have any questions?" he heard McGonagall ask.

Harry lifted his hand, the only one to do so, getting some snickers thrown at him, "yes, could you please tell me how it is that the suits of armour move? They are too fluid to be enchanted"

McGonagall coughed awkwardly, not expecting such a question, "It is knowledge lost to the ages I'm afraid, Mister Potter"

He heard a growl from somewhere behind him and identified the voice as that one of the rude boy that had busted into his compartment during the train ride, the one with the bad Bond impression.

Not Neville, he actually liked Neville.

He wouldn't be three steps behind him and in front of Blaize otherwise.

"Investigation required then" he muttered.

"Smarten yourselves up while you wait for the sorting to begin" McGonagall disappeared behind the giant doors in front of them, where chatter of hundreds could be heard.

Nervous whispers about the sorting could be heard, but Harry paid them no mind, instead getting close to the nearest suit of armour, mindful that it was holding a Morningstar in one of its hands.

It was a bit unnerving that its visor followed his every move, doing as an owl would and turning its head a full 180 when Harry stepped to face its back.

He slowly, almost as slowly as his first good attempt at a rune cluster, he touched the armour with his magic tendrils, retracting them immediately when it moved the hand with the shield up.

He tried again, even slower when the suit of armour lowered the shield.

"How strange," he muttered to himself, "how very strange."

To him the suit of armour felt just like any other person he touched with his magic would feel like, but it was colder and more like a muggle, with only the barest amount of magic needed for the soul to function.

But it also felt corrupted, as if having the iron armour as a body corrupted the soul somewhat, or maybe it was BECAUSE the soul was corrupted that it was trapped in a suit of armour.

He would need to find a deserted corridor and perform some tests some time.

"Mister Potter," Harry heard McGonagall call to him. He poked his head over the shoulder of the armour, "The sorting is about to begin, so if you would be so kind as to leave the decorations alone, we can begin"

With a final glance at the armour Harry complied, falling into step with Lisa.

The Great Hall was an impressive sight, almost as impressive as the castle itself, with the four large tables with students in robes of different linings and tapestries of a honey badger, a lion, an eagle and a snake somehow hanging from the roof, if there was any as it was covered by the night sky, complete with stars and clouds.

McGonagall took out a roll of parchment and started calling names from it.

Eventually it was Tracey's turn, and she sat on the stool and put on the Sorting Hat.

"_Hmmm, good mind, a bit lazy but not afraid to work, wants to hold a high position in the ministry, that is ambitious, but not you real dream is it._

"_No, no, I do believe that you want to do as your mother did, then it better be _SLYTHERIN"

She smiled and walked to the table under the green snake banners, sitting herself on the far side of the table.

"Greengrass, Daphne"

"_Hmmm, great mind, not afraid of getting dirty but you prefer not getting caught when you have to do it, and your plan for the future is nothing short of impressive, getting control over a house with a large number of wizengamot seats._

"_I see that you have already set your eyes on Harry Potter, but I doubt you could get in better terms with him than the mugglborn that has been his friend for years already, but I wish you luck, you will do great in _Slytherin!"

"Longbottmom, Neville"

"_Not very smart, are you? No, knowledge is not something you are destined for, you are a Longbottom, a family that has given a lot of warriors to the ages, so it is only fitting that you follow your ansestors._

_"But you don't like battle, do you? You prefer plants over your family. Well Mister Longbottom, I can assure you that a lot of good will come to you if you stay in _GRYFFINDOOR"

The sorting continued, and Harry kept his cold façade on without fail, not even when he started to nod off, "Potter, Harry"

"Harrison, please" he muttered as he walked towards the stool, ignoring the whispers of amazed boys and flustered girls as he confidently made his way forwards.

"_You are one of a kind, Mister Potter, I don't believe anyone can claim that their mother lives insider their head_" he heard inside his head.

'_Tell anyone and I'll burn you_' Harry threatened.

"_A temper to match that of Lily, but more controlled, you don't snap unless necessary, do you?_" the Hat continued without pause, "_the sense of humor of James, as well as his disregard for authority figures, but you also have traits that you developed on your own, the ambition to see the world, the drive to complete whatever you put your mind on, the cool head you always try to keep, the knowledge you so desperately want._

"_You have no true place in any of the houses, just as you would fit in any of them, but two things rise above the rest._

"_Tell me Mr. Potter, what is more important to you, your friends and family, or your dreams?"_

'_Family comes first, always_'

"GRYFFINDOOR! _You will go very far Mister Potter_"

The table under the lion banner exploded into cheers, and he noticed that Fred and George started chanting "we got Potter!" over and over again

"Turpin, Lisa"

"_Hmmm, interesting mind, it always is when I have to sort someone who reads for pleasure and gain, you could go into Ravenclaw right now just for that, but you are also brash, not afraid to speak your mind_ the Hat hummed for a second before shouting "RAVENCLAW!"

"Zabini, Blaize"

"_Hmmm, if I hadn't sorted Sirius Black before you I would tell you that your ambition is impossible, even more if you start where you want to start, lower your targets for your first three years," _blaize got the impression that the hat blinked dumbly, "_Forget I said that, just abandon your plan, settle for only one girl instead of trying to date everyone your year and up_

"_Your plan aside, you have a really quick wit, but I wouldn't let anyone get dirt on you, Mister Zabini, otherwise you won't survive _SLYTHERIN!"

* * *

**This was simple enough and surprisingly easy since I wrote it in just one day, i think it's my new record.**

**Next update will probably be in one or two weeks, I posted this as soon as I did because I already had two out of four chapters ready.**


	8. Thoughts

**Thoughts**

***Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry*Scotland*September 1****st*****Nighttime**

**-Dumbledore-**

Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, the headmaster of Hogwarts, found himself bemused as he looked at Harry Potter, the boy he had taken to protecting from the advances of the more, unsavoury could be one way to put it, people that would want him for their own gains, of course, he was no different, but his motives were for the greater good, not for the genocide of many.

The boy was not what he expected.

Oh, he had expected an abused, amazed boy, while hoping for a charismatic young lad that would take the mantle of protector of the people when the time came, yet the Potter boy was neither.

He exuded confidence in himself, yet he was cold. He felt knowledgeable yet naïve. Strong yet weak.

There was also something that Minerva had told him, that he was interested in seeing the world, a good thing for a young lad to dream of, but the fact that he had somehow met a muggle born was something he couldn't have imagined in his wildest of predictions, the odds of it happening were simply too low for it to happen, yet it did.

And the way the boy looked at everything in the Great Hall, as if he wanted to cut everything open and find out how the enchantments on the candles, banners and ceiling worked.

He would have to keep an eye in the possessions of the school; it wouldn't do if he kidnapped one of the talking gargoyles of the school just to know how it could speak when it had no flesh to speak of.

He had a feeling that a lot of headaches would come to him during the time that Harry, Harrison, he corrected himself, would spend in Hogwarts, especially if he had the same sense of humour that James had when he had roamed this halls.

His only consolation was that he was friends with a Ravenclaw, thought that could turn out to be just as much a curse as it was a blessing.

* * *

**-McGonagall-**

The Scotswoman Minerva McGonagall or Minnie as only her closest friends dared to call her, paid attention to the son of the two that had been her favourite lions back in the seventies, trying and failing to get a proper read on him.

His first impression more than a month ago had been not really good, as the kid had rudely stopped her from introducing herself, breaking into a discussion with his friend and leaving her confused for the rest of the day.

Then after her visit to the Turpin's, during the visit to Gringott's, the boy had disappeared from everyone's view, just to return later with a book in hand, a trunk behind him and a ring he had not been wearing earlier.

Oh, she knew that it was the Potter Heir Ring, and she knew that the boy should have known about it, but to summon it at age eleven, when most kids only thought about what they wanted for a birthday or Christmas present, he should have at least waited until his OWLs

But if he was half as smart as James and Lily had been, or better yet, smarter than the two, then he could deal with all that being the Head of House entailed.

She could only hope that he was not a rule breaker like his father had been.

But he was just as disrespectful: really, who reads in the middle of a feast when he was supposed be socializing?

But oh well, at least he was talking to Neville Longbottom, though the conversations the Weasly twins had with him were discouraging, especially when the three shook hands and the twins grinned like mad-men.

She would have to make sure the castle stood for the five remaining years the twins had at Hogwarts.

She better ordered some Fire-whiskey in advance.

She could feel the headaches already.

* * *

**-Flitwick-**

Filius Flitwick was a half-goblin, not a midget as many of his younger students thought him as, but a half-goblin with a human father and a goblin mother who he visited every summer.

As such he was much more in tune with his magic and knew when to listen to it and when to ignore the things his body told him, and right now was such a moment.

He knew that the boy had been something especial as soon as he entered the Great Hall, as his magic had been so strong, so controlled, so malleable, if he could compare the aura the Potter boy gave off, it would be that of Ragnock, the current Chieftain of the goblins, who had such a control over his magic that it took him hours to create what other smiths could do in weeks.

But this boy had the same potential of control, but it was rough, without a proper teacher other than experience and experimentations.

Maybe he could offer him the same thing he had offered his mother when Lily had finished Hogwarts; it would feel good to have another apprentice after fifty years.

He heard McGonagall tell that the boy had asked about the armours in the Entrance Hall and chuckled, if the boy was as interested in the more normal kinds of magic as he was in the ancient magic that the Founders had put on the castle, then he would be a joy to teach.

Now he just had to ask why he was reading when there was the chance that food would fall on the book.

Though that chance was low, considering that the boy appeared to be a capable multitasker.

What other explanation was there to move a fork expertly to the plate and the mouth without letting one bit of food to fall off.

Oh yes, he would offer an apprenticeship.

* * *

**-Pomfrey-**

Poppy Pomfrey was a kind woman, unless you were a rebellious teen with no regard for self-care and a pennant for trouble, then she was stern, stubborn and unfeeling woman that would stop at nothing until she was sure you were as good as new.

As she was a nurse in a school where pretty much every student was a rebellious teen, very few ever saw her caring side until after they graduated.

Lily Evans had been an exception to the rule as she had taken time to get to know the matron of the hospital wing by visiting once every weekend during her times at Hogwarts, much like James Potter had done with Hagrid, the half-giant groundskeeper.

Because of this she had not been surprised when Lily asked her to be the mid-witch at the birth of her son.

Then there was James Potter, who had been a constant enough habitant of the Hogwarts hospital wing to get to see both sides of the matron, and as such she started to develop a bit of a soft spot for him as well as Lily.

That was why she had been paying close attention to Harry Potter, Harrison, as he had told McGonagall, the son of both of her children, as she thought of every child that she cared for in more than five occasions that passed the overnight stay.

Against her own wishes she had been blocked from trying to claim guardianship over him after the death of the Potters, but that did not mean that she would stop trying to care for the child of two of her favourites.

Her first thought as soon as she saw him was that he was a healthy kid, if slightly short, but the developing muscles she could see were enough to counter the shortness.

The second thing she noticed was that he seemed to have Lily's eyes, fully hers, as they were not hidden by the glasses that James had been forced to wear since he was seven.

His face was mostly James's though, with the exception of the nose and eyes.

His build was like neither though, as where Lily had been petite and James lanky, the way she would describe Harry would be athletic, and dare she say it, though she hoped he would not go there, a perfect fit for the seeker position at quiditch.

Though she had to wonder if he was interested in sports with how he was reading.

He read at an amazing pace, nearly a page a minute.

Which was good, that way he would only visit for colds and the like.

* * *

-**Snape-**

Severus Snape did not know what to think of the child of his nemesis and his love.

His looks drove him to hate the boy: the same messy hair, the same face, the same aura. It just screamed Potter at him, and he hated anything Potter.

His eyes drove him to care for the boy; they were all Lily, the same almond shape, the same shade of emerald, the same depth.

He did not know what to make of the boy, but with how he looked and the arrogance the boy was displaying by not paying attention to those around him by reading during a time to socialize, he was leaning towards hating him.

Even more so because he was a Gryffindoor, only Ravenclaws were morally allowed to read during meal times.

The fact that he was flawlessly doing it while eating was also something he was slightly envious of, after all, if he could do that when making a potion it would be easy to prepare the ingredients during the stage before they were needed, and then he would not need more time than the needed to prepare the potion itself, leaving him more time to himself.

Back to the topic at hand, he would probably hate Potter before the year was over, especially if he learned of the life debt he owned to Potter because of Black.

He was already forced to watch over the little brat, he would probably kill himself if the brat started to gloat about it.

* * *

**Cut, that is it for now, if it seems forced it is because, at the beggening at least, it was the only thing I could come up with, but I find myself pleased with the results, especially from Flitwick onwards.**

**Right, now, onto bussiness, there will be a two week hiatus, until I finish my finals, which start tomorrow and don't end until June's first week.**

**Nothing more to say, only to hope that the muse of this story comes back when the time to write comes back.**


	9. The first week

**One week in**

***Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry*Scotland*September 2****nd*******

Harry's first week at Hogwarts was as disappointing as it was illuminating.

The second day of term, first of proper classes, the rave-haired kid woke bright and early at six O'clock, walking around the seventh floor for two hours, as that was the time he spent to walk normally during weekdays, when he walked to school from the Dursley's.

Breakfast was served at eight, so he took his time to shower with scalding water and enjoyed the chaos that was the first year's dorm when they realized that breakfast was already starting.

Unlike the other firs years, Harry trailed behind an older group of students in the correct idea that they would guide him, with no trouble, to the Great Hall.

On the fourth floor he was intercepted by the Weasly twins, who had decided on what broom they wanted.

"You see here" said George.

"We have decided that what we need is a comet 300" continued Fred

"Maneuverable and fast, but with a rather slow acceleration"

"Good at great heights"

"But stalls at a hundred meters off the ground"

"The newest Nimbus gets to a hundred and fifty"

"Rumor says that there's a new broom in development from an obscure maker"

"Fastest on the market if the rumors are true, best acceleration too"

"But this is the pair we need, and we'll be relieving you of a couple dozen galleons"

"No more than thirty though"

"Even though they came out last year"

"Comet is cheap"

"Nimbus asks for more"

"Those are the only two broom makers in Britain"

"The French have three"

"But they care more for looks and comfort"

"And Comet sells everywhere"

"They even have a children's line"

"Stop" Harry held out his hand, "I don't really care about makers, only about flying, you'll have your money tonight, it's in my trunk"

"Very well then" Started George

"We'll drop you off at the Great Hall" finished Fred.

Without any warning they lifted him by the shoulders and carried him off to who knows where, passing through several tapestries and paintings, eventually coming out of another passageway just by the stairs to the main entrance.

Dropping him, quite literally, at the doors, making him fall on his bum, the twins entered the Great Hall and sat at the Gryffindoor table.

Harry stood at the door, trying to find Lisa at the Ravenclaw table and eventually finding her near the edge, talking with a red-headed girl and a boy with brown hair.

Walking towards them, Harry ignored all the stares and whispers of him as he plopped down next to Lisa, grabbing a plate and filling it with eggs and bacon.

"How was your first night, Lisa?" he asked, blatantly ignoring the awestruck looks on the other two kid's faces, "pass me the hash browns, would you?" he said to the person next to him.

"It was good, but I wish I could have stayed up until later" she said, a wistful look on her face, "there is a library in the common room, and they have everything"

Harry nodded, before glaring at the one that hadn't handed him the hash brown plate, "forget it, I'll do it myself" his eyes on the plate, he reached out with his magic to levitate the plate towards him, serving himself some.

"Show off," Lisa muttered, "must you do that with everyone watching you?" she snapped at Harry.

Said boy just looked around, glared some people into looking away, nodded in greeting to two of the professors at the head table (professor McGonagall and professor Flitwick) and continued eating, "so, who are your housemates?" Harry asked after a bite of egg.

Lisa looked the boy and girl that were still looking at Harry with awestruck face, even more awestruck because of his display, "right, well these are Terry Boot and Morag McDougal" she introduced him, glaring at their gaping.

"Not very talkative are they?" Harry said disdainfully, scoffing a little.

"You broke them"

"If they can't get a hold of their brains, then they aren't worth staying with" Harry said, quoting what Mr Turpin had once said.

"Don't talk like dad," Lisa glared at him, "and we were having a proper talk until you arrived"

"I can't help being a celebrity," Harry looked at one of the windows of the hall, apparently waiting for something to happen, "you know I hated it whenever some git would try to rip my hand off"

"Well you could try being less," she struggled to find a word, "less you about it"

"You know I am a bloody git when I can," he smiled at Lisa, "It is part of my charm"

"It is no charm" Lisa shot back, "it is a curse for everyone around that you can't give anybody respect"

"I give my respect to important people," Harry said, "like the barmy old man that heads the school or your parents"

"Well, you have a nice way of showing it" a little voice next to Lisa said, Terry, "I don't think anybody has the gall to call the headmaster that"

Harry shrugged, "Eh, you heard the speech he gave yesterday," Terry nodded, "If that is not enough to be considered barmy, then I don't know what is"

"But he's a genius, though" pointed out Terry, "otherwise he wouldn't be the headmaster"

"And that is why I respect him," Harry nodded, "the old coot is smart as hell, an alchemist, and who knows how much other stuff"

"I am glad you have such opinion of me Mr Potter" a voice said over his shoulder, and he had to snicker at the faces of those around him before turning to Dumbledore, "It has been a long while since someone has given such an accurate description of me."

"So you admit to being barmy, headmaster?" Harry asked, ignoring the angry shouts coming from his mother.

"When you get to my age, my dear boy," Dumbledore said, his eyes twinkling, "one tends to develop certain quirks, though I wouldn't really call myself a 'coot' yet, there is still much energy in these old bones"

"You say that now, wait until my seventh year" Harry muttered.

"Oh, so am I to assume that you will follow your father's footsteps then" Dumbledore said.

"Sometimes, when I'm utterly bored, or picked on"

"But that interesting article in your backpack should be enough to keep you entertained, should it not?" Dumbledore inquired.

"I've a Ravenclaw for a friend, do you really think so?" Harry shot back.

Dumbledore ran his hand through his beard, "I do suppose you're right, but surely she doesn't have it all the time?"

"We take turns, tomorrow is her day to have it"

"A good deal between friends, then" Dumbledore nodded, "very well, then I shall leave you to breakfast"

The four students watched the headmaster walk from the Ravenclaw table to the Head table, where he engaged in a conversation with professor McGonagall.

"I like the man" Harry said, "Wonder if he keeps up with the times."

"Well he doesn't keep up with fashion" Lisa commented.

"He's awesome, that is good enough" Harry shrugged.

The schedules were handed out, Harrys being delivered by the minuscule charms professor along with that of the Ravens.

His first class of the week was charms, where he started to like professor Flitwick, as the man had a rather nice way of lightening up the tense mood whenever it started to fall because of a student that couldn't get a hold of charms theory.

Harry was apparently was of his favourites from the get-go, because he was really enthusiastic in the discussion the two had in the middle of the class over the advantage and disadvantages of charms with wands.

The next class was Defence Against the Dark Arts, where Harry became delusion of his ideas of learning interesting stuff to use against the bullies that roamed the school, because of the teacher, professor Quirrel, who couldn't get out one word without stuttering or forcing it out of his throat.

Herbology was a painful class, as they were forced into practical work of how to plant seeds properly, but the works was somehow dulled because of the kind personality of professor Sprout.

On Wednesday, astronomy took place and Harry asked the question that was probably on many people's minds, "Why do we have to wake up at midnight to stargaze?"

The answer that had come from professor Sinestra was as cutting as his question had been, "because unless you would like to butch up a potion or ritual, then you need to know the astronomical calendar" and as she had said it in a voice that promised a detention Harry had just shrugged.

Thursday brought transfiguration, and after a severe speech that only made Harry even more eager to use transfiguration in, erhm, _clever_, ways, they started to go over the laws of transfiguration (this can't be changed into that, no food is to be transfigured, don't use transfiguration to cause mass destruction) a subject that is only better when messing with the wording of the ruled (don't make a mountain out a molehill, don't serve yourself, don't make a nuke to bomb the Russians)

Friday was a day Harry was both looking forward to and dreading, as it was the day they would have their first potion class.

Sitting himself at the very back of the classroom and taking out his many-book to read on the subject beforehand, Harry waited for professor Bat, as he had started to call him, to arrive, once again ignoring the whispers and looks, only reacting when Blaize Zabini sat next to him, "'Sup, haven't seen you during the week" the Italian boy said.

"I've been roaming the class" he looked at the other boy in the eye and continued, "I'm afraid I might start to hate people"

"Don't blame you, I wonder how you ended up in Gryffindoor" Blaize said, "so far I've seen gossips, chronic eaters, a know-it-all beaver that should be in Ravenclaw, and then there's you" the Italian boy shrugged and looked at Harry, pointedly letting his eyes in the many-book for more than a few seconds, "a raven trying to be a lion"

"I prefer to think of myself as a chimera" Harry shot back, "A lion's body, raven's head, badger's legs and snake's tail"

"Well, I've never seen you being cunning" said Blaize.

"You've haven't seen me in my quest" Harry looked back to his book, "I'm planning on how to take over the world, I don't know if I should use rats or cats"

Blaize looked at Harry oddly, his mouth already forming words, but he was cut off from speaking by the door to the potion dungeons slamming open and closed, with professor Snape walking in.

"You are here to…" Harry didn't really pay attention to the speech that professor Bat gave, as his book was more interesting, as well as less far-fetched.

A hand slapped down hard on his table, making him look up to meet Snape, "hello there, professor, I hope you are doing well" Harry said, his face a blank mask.

"Ah, yes, Harry Potter, our new…_celebrity_" Snape drawled.

"The one and only, though I also answer to just Harry, though I prefer Harrison from professors" Harry said, his face still blank and his eyes blatantly looking at the crooked nose of the professor, "Did you break that on a bike?" he asked.

"Ten points from Gryffindoor, Potter, but if you are willing to play the smartass, then tell me, what would I get if I added powdered asphodel root to an infusion of wormwood?" the professor's black eyes burned into his skull, but Harry just looked down at his book, went to the index and looked for the answer.

Finding it near the end of the book, Harry once again looked up, secretly enjoying the anger in Snape's face, as he was the cause, "a sleeping potion, depending on other ingredients"

"Tut tut, Potter, it was not supposed to be an open books question, five points from Gryffindoor, so close that and answer the next question, where would you look if I told you to find a bezoar?"

"A goat, an apothecary, the ingredients cabinet, my potion ingredient kit, my pocket, your pocket, your desk, the hospital wing, the kitchens, the headmaster's office, the gamekeeper's hut, must I go on?" he asked, in a blank, yet obviously disrespectful tone.

"Five points less, Potter, you would do well to keep that mouth in check, last question, what is the difference between wolfsbane and aconite?

"Where they come from, and their properties, but they are basically the same plant"

"Be sure to memorize that book of yours, Potter, or you will not go far," professor Bat turned away and went to the blackboard, were instructions wrote themselves, "there is what you have to do, you have until the end of the class"

Later on that night, Lily would tell Harry that he should stay as far away from Snape as possible, her mind made up in the fact that the man she had seen that day was not the man she had befriended.

* * *

**I really have no idea what to do next, should I follow cannon? Should I do pure original? Should I mix it? The last one is by far the most appealing to me, and I will try to do it, but I the problem I`ve with Potter is that he is difficult to write, much more so when I try to stick with Hogwarts, so suggestions are very welcome.**

**in other news, I am done with finals tomorrow, so updates are back to normal schedule .**


	10. Bullies, done

**There goes a month**

***Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry*September 15***

"So you have bullies harassing you for hanging out with me" Harry stated more than asked.

He and Terry Boot, one of the few people of the school he could say was a friend, other than the twins, Lisa and Blaize, were sitting in one of the many hidden ways that littered the school, the one that connected the aqueduct courtyard with the boathouse.

"Only on our year, the girl Su Li, she rarely ever asks for help, but when she does, her Chinese friend and her friend's friend, Cho Chang and Marietta Edgecomb, get involved" Terry replied, "It wasn't so bad a week ago, but then you got potions and messed with Snape and it all went to hell"

"So you want me to probably humiliate my oldest friend to stop them" Harry hummed, "I'll do you one better, a week from now, I'll tell you the time, you let me in to your common room and save you all the humiliation, how about that?"

"Thank you Harry" and Terry meant it.

"Whatever for a friend" Harry soot up and made his way back to the courtyard, maybe he could humiliate someone at cobblestones.

* * *

***Headmaster's Tower*The next day***

It had taken him a while of silent inquires, discreet misleading and personal research, but he finally managed to find the Headmaster's office, and he was there for a reason.

There was one problem.

He did not know how to enter the tower.

Lily had said that he should have made questions about the password, but he had not listened to her, and now he was standing in front of a gargoyle that had an amused look in its stone eyes, somehow overcoming the fact that it was a stone construct.

"I have to go with the headmaster, I don't know the password," Harry told the gargoyle, "If I were older I would threaten you with a blasting curse, but I have not the power nor the knowledge to use it, so if you could please step aside"

"_Do you really have to talk to it like that?"_ Lily asked him as the raven-haired boy waited for the gargoyle to move.

'_It is standing in the way, and I need dad's cloak_' Harry replied, _'Otherwise I won't be able to sneak into Ravenclaw_'

"_And will you really humiliate the girls? Harry, I have raised you better than this_" Lily was not so much as angry, more like she was annoyed that he had decided to take matter upon his hands.

'_It will be nothing mayor, green hair and the face of an Oompa loompa_' Harry paused for a second, still waiting for the gargoyle to move, '_Maybe one of the songs too, I'm pretty good at compulsions_'

"_You take too much after your father_" Lily sighed.

'_In this case I'll take it as a complement_' Harry smiled, both because of what his mother said and because the gargoyle had finally moved from the archway into the Headmaster's tower.

Going up the spiralling stairs, thinking on why he seemed to go faster than average, Harry thought on how he would word everything so the headmaster would not do anything to limit his access to the cloak.

He could always say that as Heir Potter he was reclaiming a heirloom, but that would probably only help him get in the headmaster's bad graces, something he would try to avoid unless necessary.

After a trek that should have lasted much more, as he doubted that five flights of stairs could be climbed in less than a minute.

Coming up to the door that led into the Headmaster's office, Harry hesitated to knock, still trying to come up with what to say, finally knocking after two more minutes.

"Enter!" Came the voice of Albus Dumbledore almost as soon as Harry knocked for the first time, not giving him any time to knock a second time.

Steeling his nerves, the boy opened the door and stepped forward into the office, his eyes widening almost as soon as he caught a glimpse of the office.

Trinkets of all colours, some poofing, others whirling and most of them doing some kind of noise; maps of all around the world of many kinds, some with lights, other with colours that could have been regions of the area; books of many sizes, some as small as his hand and others as big as his chest (how could anybody carry a book that big?) all in groups of subject.

To top it off, the old headmaster sat in a throne-like chair, papers littering the desk in piles and a majestic, red-orange bird sleeping in a golden perch that quite fit the general image of the office.

"Ah, Mister Potter, what brings you here?" The wizened old wizard asked Harry.

"Yes, erh, well," Harry cleared his throat as his words caught in it, then started again, "Well, you see sir, in one of the letters that my dad left in his vault, he wrote that he was planning on leaving his invisibility cloak to you, so you could study it while I grew up"

The headmaster looked at him curiously, his eyes twinkling every once in a while, as if he was trying to discover why would Harry want it, other than obvious of having it at hand, "He did give it to me a few months before his demise, just two weeks after you were born in fact, and I did spend some of my, quite much back then, free time, but I am afraid I don't have it at hand right now"

"Well sir, where is it?" Harry asked, somewhat impatiently.

Dumbledore hummed in thought, "I believe I left it in one of my safe houses, the one the Prewit twins left to me," he answered I confess I was planning to give it to you this Christmas if you didn't come to me before then, but I should have it here by Friday"

"Thank you sir" Harry answered, just three days, more than enough time for the twins to finish the potion he asked for.

"If that was all Mister Potter, I'm afraid that I must go back to the paperwork" the old wizard looked back to the desk, his brows creasing down in what seemed to be frustration.

Harry left the office after one last look, wanting to leave the headmaster to his work.

As the door closed the Headmaster stood up and went to one of the many passages of his office, this particular one leading upwards, to last floor before the roof of the tower.

There, laying in in the corner was something only he knew was there, as only he knew that the third floor corridor was nothing but scam.

It was a chest, but the chest was covered by the same cloak that Harry Potter had just asked for, and inside the chest was the thing that his friend and master had asked him to safeguard for the year, until Dee got off their trail again.

The problems of being immortal were noticeable in Nicholas and Perenelle, both well into their six hundreds, and yet they looked younger than him, they looked like a muggle couple of fifty, but every century, almost every decade they had to deal with either Dee or Machiavelli looking for them.

That was probably the reason that they had only had three children since the creation of the philosopher's stone, on of the, quite coincidentally, being the ancestor of Lily Evans, but that was a fact that only he, Nicholas and Perenelle knew.

Truthfully, the inquire about the Potter's cloak of invisibility had set back quite a lot of plans regarding the safe-keeping of the Stone, but he could come up with a plan in less than three days.

An idea so utterly brilliant and flamboyant flew through his mind.

It would be perfect, hiding the stone in plain sight, making everyone believe that it was only the ruby decoration of his expensive set of cutlery would fit in perfectly with the image of the grandiose headmaster everyone saw him as.

All he needed was a golden cup.

* * *

***Three days later***

It had been a long trio of days for harry Potter, but after the long wait, it was all falling into place.

The twins had already finished one of the two potions he commissioned and only needed a few hours for the second one, as they had admitted that the shade of orange they needed to make was quite peculiar and not something they had seen before.

Their pureblood heritage shone through with that, as pretty much every muggle child knew the story of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

Terry and he had agreed that the former would open the doorway to the Ravenclaw common room in two days' time at precisely 9 O'clock, giving him the chance to slip in administer the dose needed to turn the hair of the bullies green and the skin orange, and since it was a slow acting potion, according to twins, who had also agreed to take the blame, it would only be noticeable by breakfast the day after it was done, so everyone in the school would get to see what an Ommpa Loompa was and how it sang.

Flawless.

* * *

***Three days later***

First it was Su Li that stood up, followed shortly by Cho Chang and later on by Marietta Edgecomb, but the three female ommpa loompas started to sing the same song of when the spoiled boy had been shrunk into the TV.

As soon as they were done a note fell in front of them reading, _'Don't mess with my friends_' it was delivered by Hedwig and the three Ravenclaws knew Harry had been the one responsible, but since the note was not signed and they would have to admit to bulling if they wanted someone buying their story, they retreated.

It was good when a plan did not go awry.

The rest of the month passed quickly and with little problem for Harry and his friends; Blaize decided to befriend Terry and brought Tracey along, but the Slytherin was quite happy to let her Italian friend socialize without her.

Quirrell continued to make a fool out of himself whenever he had classed, Snape decided to taunt Harry, who returned the taunts in a voice to polite to be respectful, and Dumbledore got a cup with different jewels, the most prominent being an emerald that rested in the bottom of the cup.

And so, September gave way to October and the air of eccitment filled the castle, for it was soon to be Quiditch season.


	11. October

**October**

***Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry*October 21***

As the months changed so did the professor's kind of lessons, from only theory to mainly practical lessons; Professor McGonagall started to give more work during classes, often making those that finished one exercise early on make the change back and forth, or transfiguring many things in close succession.

Professor Flitwick had started them on to charms that required actual wand-movements rather than just an incantation, spells like _depulso,_ the pushing charm, _colore mutatio_, the colour changing charm, and _wingardium leviosa,_ the hovering charm; but the diminutive professor also made them discuss how charms could be used in different scenarios, like packing stuff with the hovering charm, painting a house with the colour changing one or moving a shelf out of the way.

The professor also shot down many ideas, saying that they would not be practical in the end.

Professor Sinestra started quizzing them randomly on what she had been teaching during the nights, but Harry, along with Blaize, spent most classes only half-listening and only stargazing without even using their telescopes.

Professor Sprout also quizzed her students in their knowledge of plants, but less frequently than the Astronomy professor, and making the questions quite open, so unless you knew absolutely nothing, like Draco Malfoy and Theodore Nott, both of whom had not spent a single moment in their family's gardens, you couldn't get it wrong.

Potions continued to be a nightmare to those who couldn't work well under pressure, well, the Gryffindoors that couldn't work under pressure, since Snape liked to breathe down the Gryffs' necks during their potions periods, while the Slytherins had no problem with professor Bat, as said man only took points from Gryffindor during his classes with them, on Fridays and Mondays, and refused to do anything but giving points to his own house.

Harry had, along with Lisa, Terry and Blaize, occasionally making Neville go with them, visited Hagrid once every weekend since the third week of school, and the half-giant had spent a lot of time telling stories of Harry's parents, the times he, Hagrid, had gone into the forest and discussing exotic beasts with Terry who was an enthusiast about them.

Lisa and Terry had stopped being harassed by Su Li, Marietta Edgecomb and Cho Chang, though that did not stop said girls of trying to make their lives harder every time they met; blocked paths in the corridors, paper planes coincidentally crashing into them, loud noises near their places in the library, but that rarely happened, as the castle was big enough.

The only real problem was now Draco Malfoy, who proved himself to be either brave or dumb enough to withstand Harry's glares, some harsh enough to scare away some of Vernon sister's dogs away, and insulting Blaize, Harry and Lisa at the same time with only one sentence.

This was usually solve by a compulsion or a hard shove using his magic tendrils to push the blond away, usually the humiliation of tripping over 'nothing' was enough to send him away.

The only not solvable problem, not really a problem though, just an annoyance really, was that three out of four of Harry's roommates snored, and while he was good with runes, he had not learned from his mother on how to make a silencing runic array, nor did he know the silencing nor the muffling charm, so he had spent more time than he cared to in the library, as his mother had never needed such spells and had forgotten about them.

He would have to ask the twins; surely they had need of them for their experiments.

But first he would look in the library; worst case scenario was that he spent the day learning some other useful thing, like more runes, runes were fun to learn.

It made him mad that he hadn't thought of putting more rune dictionaries in his many-book.

The Hogwarts library was probably one of the biggest libraries in the world, right up there with the Library of Alexandria and the Library in Switzerland.

At first glance, however, it was small, with only fifteen rows of shelves, divided in three lines, with three floors, the third one being the restricted section, but in a place like Hogwarts, where even Muggles could feel the magic permeating the air, nothing, not even the classrooms were really small, and the library was one such place.

Harry had discovered, with help of Lisa and Terry, who spent nearly as much time there as he did, that the shelves never really had the same assortment of books, only the same general topic, which led them to believe that there was some kind of storage and the books changed place every day.

This had been shot down by the librarian, Irma Pince, because while there WAS a storage room, she did not know where it was, only that it was in the same floor as the library, the magic in the castle made it so that only the books that mentioned what the one entering the library wanted were on display.

Madam Pince, just like her predessesor, had learnt the secrets, almost every one of them, to the Hogwarts library; she knew how to call a book to the frontal desk, she knew how to get a lost book back, she knew how to veto a person that damaged books on purpose without the headmaster overriding her, and perhaps the most important of all, she knew where every shelve was, who entered and who was where they were not supposed to be.

To an outsider, Irma Pince was sharper than any hawk.

To a student, she was demon sent to torment those that had decided to hang out at the library in Hogwarts.

But the few that knew her, people like Minerva McGonagall and Augusta Longbottom, she was a woman whose passion for books was second to none.

So it was no wonder that Hermione Granger, the girl that had been helping Neville, indeed, probably her only friend, was one Madam Pince's favourite students, as she was the perfect image of how one should behave in the library.

So here was Harry now, having given up with searching for silencing spells, since most book he had skimmed through that day had only made some mentions of them, and picking up books in runes, a subject he honestly believed should be a core subject instead of History, unless the latter got a professor that actually taught, instead of a ghost that only droned on and on.

Sitting himself in the chair he had been using for the past hour, his buttocks aching some for the continued sitting, Harry started reading.

Sometime later, Harry was brought from his reading because of throat being cleared, something that made him frown, because he knew that his friends knew better than interrupting his reading lest they be subjected to his annoyed glares.

He looked up to see Hermione Granger, the girl that was way better than him in theory but worse in practical application of spells.

Maybe it had to do with the brain?

"Why did you sit here?" the girl with the bushy hair asked, but Harry was busy staring at her hair.

'_How can it be messier than mine?_' a month, almost two, may have passed, but he was still shocked at such a hair.

"_She asked you a question, Harry"_ Lily said in a slight scolding tone, pushing him out of his thought.

"Because I needed a chair" Harry answered bluntly, "If you are asking why I'm sitting next to you, it's because you sat here when I was putting some books away"

The girl nodded and looked at the title of the books that Harry had grabbed, "Isn't the study of runes for third years and above?" she asked.

"The class is; there is nothing in the Hogwarts charter that prohibits studying ahead," Harry answered and went back to his reading.

"But, shouldn't you go to the professor if you want to know what to learn?" Hermione asked again.

"I've been using runes since I was six, I think I know what I'm supposed to learn" Harry snapped, "Now, if you could let me search for a silencing array, that'd be great"

Hermione looked hurt, making Harry sigh, "nothing personal, but I hate it when people interrupt me"

* * *

***October thirty***

Harry was sitting in the top of his four-poster with a chisel in his mouth, a book on his legs and a clay tablet, since he doubted that the elves would let the damaged bed stay, in front of him and the book with the array he wanted in his bed.

He was moody, and everyone could tell because he made no effort whatsoever to hide the scowl that seemed permanent in his face.

This was not because Halloween was the next day, nor because the school was being decorated for the feast.

No, it was because almost everyone in their fourth year and bellow had decided to thank him again and again for vanquishing Voldemort, totally ignoring that he had lost his father, his mother too for everyone else but him, that day.

And apparently everyone wanted their autographs in their Harry Potter books.

He was getting a lawyer to get those things recalled.

Only his friends said nothing, as they knew what happened, well, Lisa learned what happened, the other four already knew but said nothing, and only kept him company between classes.

Taking the chisel off his mouth and putting it so it hovered just over the clay tablet, Harry took another look at the book before carefully carving the first rune of the array; silence.

It wouldn't be so bad if the professors remembered what happened, but only Hagrid, who had cried inside his hut when he mentioned them, the only person that seemed to remember the sacrifice of his parents that daw was Dumbledore, who had given him a sad nod and a grief filled glance.

The second rune, area, was started five centimetres away from silence.

Not even professor McGonagall nor Flitwick recognized the day and only joined in the good mood of Halloween, becoming enthusiastic of their teaching.

The rune of 'outwards' went in so it was just touching the one for area and the one for 'inwards' touched silence.

The twins had tried, somewhat successfully, to get his mind off the day by making a school-wide prank that involved animating the chicken served during mealtimes, so the school was gifted to the sight of chicken that fought back whenever someone tried to grab a piece of it.

It also danced away from the plates it was served on.

Professor Flitwick and the Headmaster were the only professors that took it with humour.

The twins had gotten detention.

Maybe he could skip classes the next day, if only to evade the idiotic fans and the thanks.


	12. Halloween

**Halloween**

***October 31*Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry*Scotland***

Harry Potter was not a happy boy.

Harry Potter was very annoyed.

Harry Potter was celebrity in the wizarding world.

He had survived the killing curse when he was one, just after his mother finished a ritual that ended up tying their souls together.

Only he and the soul of his mother living in his mind knew this.

Everyone else was an idiot and just believed what books that had studied nothing on him or what happened that night said.

Everyone else was an idiot that knew nothing about common sense and extra-personal sensibility, for they were asking if he remembered what was probably the worst two of days of his life.

He was already fed up.

It was only nine in the morning.

He was being asked by a third year fan for an autograph.

A male fan.

A girlish male fan.

His glare was scaring everyone around him.

Lisa Turpin, his best friend, first friend, had a calming hand in his shoulder, but even with his mother trying to calm him down he was about to snap.

"Go away" he finally did.

"Bu-Bu-But I don't have an autograph" the fan boy stuttered out.

"And you never will, nor will anyone who asks or even wishes one" he smiled a creepy smile, a smile that promised pain to anyone who crossed Harry, a smile that could intimidate even the headmaster, who was more than sixty yards away.

The fan ran away, letting Harry relax.

'_Thank you for teaching me that_' he said truthfully to his mother.

"_It's alright sweety, so long as you teach it only to your daughter," _Lily told him.

'_I still don't get why that is,_' Harry muttered in his mind, but he continued eating, letting conversation fall.

"Have I ever said how much I hate wizards" Harry said loudly to his friends, forcing his voice so the acoustic of the Hall could carry it everywhere, "I mean, it's like they forget that I'm an orphan because of that night" silence reigned in the great hall, "say, Neville, could you pass the sausages?" Lisa face palmed, "Oh, well, at least I'm not the worst off, dad died a hero and mom didn't feel pain" Harry looked around, "Neville, I asked for the sausages, I don't think I can do it with my annoyance."

The chubby boy reacted and passed the plate to Harry, who scooped three onto his plate and also put some bacon in it, just as the mail arrived.

Hedwig, ever punctual, was one of the first owls to arrive, and after delivering a parcel the size of the smallest book Harry had, a three hundred page book called fantastic beasts and where to find them, in front of Lisa and Harry, she stood next to Harry's plate and started to eat the bacon and sausage.

"Don't eat all of it, I'm still hungry" Harry said as he and Lisa started opening the box, not surprised to see some of the candy that the Turpins had bought for Halloween.

Hedwig gave a hoot followed a screech, "You had me fly all the country in a night, at least let me feed properly"

Harry gave Hedwig a look, "you ate a rat on the way; there is blood in your tail feathers"

Hedwig looked away and hooted, knowing she had been found out, and stuck to eating Harry's bacon.

"I still can't get over how you can talk to animals and I can't" Lisa muttered, "I would love to do that"

"Yes, well, it can get bothersome if you have a prideful pet" Harry smirked and dodged, barely, a swipe from Hedwig's wing.

"I am NOT prideful" she screeched.

"The defense rests" Harry took one of the candies, a sucker, and unwrapped it, putting it on his mouth as soon as he did, "we'll have to send them candies from Honeyduke's, I saw it when we were passing by Hogsmade"

"We can't go to Hogsmade, not until third year, you read the Hogwarts rule book" Lisa said, grabbing a candy for herself and closing the box, "they'll have to wait until summer to try them"

"Says who?" Harry rolled his eyes and looked for the twins, who were sitting by the rest of the Gryffindor quidditch team, he would intercept them as they were about to leave the Hall or in the common room, he would have to give them the money though.

Easy enough, the first Hogsmade weekend was two days away.

The day after the first quidditch game, which he would be watching from the stands, he wanted to know what to deal with when he tried out the following year.

The day from breakfast onwards was a rest for Harry and allowed him to lower the level of frustration he had been feeling in the early morning.

McGonagall had upped the level of their transfiguration classes and now had them transfiguring rock into buttons; what she explained was high to low mass transfiguration.

Harry, showing what could have only been passed down from his father, was the first of two to complete the transfiguration, though the button was not plastic the first time he managed, but metallic, like the one in the pants he was using right now.

The other one who had finished in class time was Hermione Granger, the girl that had interrupted his reading time a week ago, but she had only managed the shape and size, it was still as hard as a rock and did not have the holes of a plastic button.

It was still better than most of the others in the class, both Gryffindors and Revanclaws; Lisa had gotten a small, spherical pebble, Terry had cylindrical rock, the failure of the class, Ronald Weasley had managed to chip his rock, Seamus Finnegan had blew up three rocks, his face and arms had a lot of scuffs, Su Li had not managed anything, Mandy Brocklehurst had been the best of the ones that had not done it, with a small cylinder with four holes, but to big be used in clothing.

After transfiguration, Harry took off without either Terry or Lisa knowing and went to explore the transfiguration floor of the castle, finding one hidden, or forgotten, room behind one of the suits or armor in the hallway that connected the transfiguration courtyard to the second landing of the great stairway, a hole that connected that same landing with the floor below, a passageway that connected to the entrance courtyard and another one that connected the library with a painting at the great stairway.

Not bad for forty minutes, but not enough to even make a dent in the cache of secrets that were hidden in the corridors and grounds of Hogwarts, but it was a start.

Then came herbology, and the Hufflepuffs, as always, were a quiet bunch and made little to no noise in class, whereas the Gryffindors made most of the noise in the class, and the insects made the rest of the noise, but they were insects, and as such guilty of most of the annoyance everyone was feeling by the time the bell rang again.

Harry tried to find anything that would help him reach the greenhouses faster, but he only found a room full of snails that charged him as soon as he entered the room, so he marked that room as forbidden, unless it was one of the many that changed their contents once a week, he would have to check.

It was now lunch time, but when he reached the Great Hall there was little food, nothing more than fruits and bread were served, but that may have been because, as the headmaster had said on Monday, there would be a feast that night, and already the decorations were being hanged, appearing above their heads with almost unnoticeable pops that only the keenest of ears could hear.

Nobody bothered him as he entered, grabbed an apple and left the hall, not wanting to risk his temper flaring up again.

Then came charms, the last class of the day, where the cheery professor had them learn the levitation charm, but whereas Hermione Granger managed it early on the class, most other only managed to get their feathers to raise a few inches off the desk.

'_Why do I have to learn to do this with a wand?' _Harryaskedhismother_, 'It's not like I can't do it without one'_

"Because it's that or getting low grades in your first course" Lily answered him, "And I don't want you getting less than EE's in everything"

_'Except in potions_' Harry said _'Professor Bat won't let me get higher than that'_

Hermione had been trying to help the two Gryffindor besides her, Ron and Neville, but only the chubby boy had accepted her help, while the redhead did not take it and instead snapped at the bushy-haired girl.

Lisa had taken a seat right next to Harry, but unlike him, she was actually talented at charms, so she was the second to get the spell right, and helped Harry says he was not as good at them as she was, not when it had to be through the wand, so she helped him get it fully just before the class ended, but Ron Weasley hadn't, and he blamed Hermione.

Insulting her almost as soon as he left the classroom behind, commenting to his friends about all her bad bad qualities, but failing to mention that she had many good other ones, like common sense, but that was the only Harry knew about.

He himself had a lot of good qualities disguised as bad ones, like his wit disguised as sarcastic humour, his dashing eyes under his long, shaggy hair.

There were also bad qualities, but those were only because other didn't like them, like his disregard for authorities or his blatant disrespect of everyone around him.

Lisa would disagree and say that the only good thing about him were his eyes and taste in movies,but she was a girl, what did she know?

One of the qualities that did not endear him to any teacher was that he did not tolerate bullies, he beat them down verbally whenever he could, so as Granger passed by him, hands on her face, he rounded on Weasley.

"Do you make it your personal goal to make people miserable?" Harry asked him in a cold yet calm voice, "You snore, you're loud at the common room, and I've seen the glares you send everyone who has more talent at magic than you" Harry counted with his hands, resisting Lisa's attempts at dragging him away, Terry just watched, interested at what was going to happen, "I understand those three, I myself get jealous of the girl you just insulted, she's better at theory than I am and she gets things fast, but there is such a thing as sensibility you know, you won't hear me insulting someone that doesn't deserve it, seems I was raised better than you were"

He turned on the spot and walked away, leaving a gaping Ron behind, but he didn't care how he left him, hopefully that would give him more common sense.

"Lisa, would you mind going after Hermione, tell her that she shouldn't let it get to her" Harry told his friend, who complied almost as soon as he asked, "Say, Terry, do you think they're serving pumpkin pie?"

The two did not see the girls for the rest of the day, but they did explore the third floor on the left hand, the non-forbidden part of it.

They found only one passageway, leading from the entrance of the library to the clock tower courtyard.

The feast came by, but not a sign of either Hermione or Lisa.

"Lavender, do you know where Hermione is?" he asked the pretty witch.

"Well, we, that is, Parvati and I, saw her and your friend, Lisa right?" Harry nodded, "well, we saw them at the loo of the second floor, your friend was trying to get Hermione to come out of a booth"

Harry closed his eyes and sighed, but decided that he would provide them with food if they did not make it to the great hall before the feast was over.

After thanking Lavender, he sat himself between the Weasley twins, for he wanted to ask them about they getting candies from the candy shop at Hogsmade for Lisa's parents, to which they agreed, with the condition that they would use whatever was left from a 'one of everything' bill to buy pranking products.

Harry managed to let them have only five galleons for pranking, and they would return whatever was left.

Considering the looks the Gryffindor chasers were giving him, he had gotten a really good deal.

He ate, watching the doors for any sign of the girls, but nothing came, and when the doors did open, it was not them but professor Stutter who entered, but he was running, panicked.

"TROLL, TROLL IN THE DUNGEON" he stopped halfway to the head table, "thought you ought to know," and he passed out.

It was a testament to the twins and Harry's nerves that the only reaction they had was freezing on theirs spots and dropping what they had on their hands instead of breaking into scared screams and shrieks.

'_How the hell does a troll get into a school?_' was the first thought that ran through their minds, but whereas the twins' second thought was to get to the common room, where there was no chance of the troll getting to them, the thought that ran through Harry's heads were about getting to his friend and the other girl.

"SILENCE!" the headmaster screamed well above the noise in the hall, pocketing his cup, "Gryffindor and Ravenclaw prefects, take your houses to the towers, Hufflepuffs, you too, but be very cautious, Slytherin will stay here"

That said, he took away all the professors, leaving behind only a woman with amplifying glasses that made her look like an insect.

Harry moved to the back of the Gryffindor line and hid away without any of the prefects noticing and grabbed Terry as he passed by, "We have to get to the second floor" he swung his backpack so he could roam through it and took out his invisibility cloak, "we've got to run"

Terry nodded and moved close to Harry, but far enough so that his movement was not impaired by him, and the raven-haired boy slung the cloak over them.

It took them about five minutes to reach the second floor, but that was because they had been in the first floor when Harry intercepted Terry.

They were in sight of the bathroom, but the stench had hit them already, and looking at the intersection that connected to the charms corridor, the troll was already near.

"In, now," Harry whispered to Terry, his mind racing through any and all possibilities, but he was also moving.

The two entered and the first thing they saw was Lisa and Hermione over the sinks, "so, better now?" Lisa asked to Hermione.

"Never mind that, you need to stay quiet, no words, no whispers" Harry told them as he took the cloak off, leaving an embarrassed Terry in plain view.

"What are you two doing here!?" Hermione shouted at them, making Harry glare at her.

"Shut up and listen, what did I just say?" heavy footsteps were heard at the door, "that out there is a troll, and I don't want to fight it," Harry almost growled.

The doors creaked, making Harry's and Terry's head snap there, "Take the cloak, leave the bathroom, I'll try to distract it," Harry held out the invisibility cloak to Terry, who looked at it and at Harry.

"I won't let you face that thing alone" he snapped, giving a weary glance to the doors, "if you face it, I face it"

The door was knocked on, "I will be alright, I'm fast, faster than any of you" Lisa nodded to Terry when the boy looked at her, "that thing is heavy, unless it is muscle instead of fat then I can outrun it" he shoved his cloak into Terry and the boy towards the girls, "now put that thing on and wait for me to give you an opening," Harry turned around, not giving Terry time to respond.

The boy glared at Harry but complied, moving to Hermione, who was shocked into not moving, and Lisa, who was shaking with nerves, "huddle up, let's hope it can't smell us" he said with his arms holding the cloak up.

The girls moved under it and Terry let it fall, moving them so that they were in plain view of the doors; should it happen, they would get out when the doors opened and run before shooting spells at the thing.

The troll gave a final punch to the doorway, making slinters fly about into Harry, who did not let them even touch him, his magic tendrils forming a dense shield around him, much like they had done whenever the Dursleys tried to beat him.

Hermione and Lisa gasped at the size of the troll, but Terry, being a half-blood whose dad worked around security trolls, only gulped.

Harry stood with a cold face, a total contrast of what was happening in his mind, which was racing with all that could go right or wrong in the few minutes that the encounter would last, because it wouldn't last more than thirty, either he would be caught or the troll would be dealt with, hopefully the later.

The first thing the troll saw, as its head was a good ten feet above the ground, was a window, then it saw green things at the low right of the window and white things at the low left of it, then, his gaze going even lower, it saw a human, standing with its arms crossed and a cold face, but the troll decided that it would be his next meal.

But first he had to kill the human.

Raising its club, the troll made to smash the human into the floor, just hard enough to kill, it, not hard enough to leave it nothing more than a red splat, but the human moved faster than the troll did, and by the time its club was on the cracked floor, the human was close to the wall with the white things.

Angry at not managing to kill Harry with one swing, the troll swung its club again, hitting the wall, but not Harry, as he had rolled to the left and evaded the weapon.

Standing up, Harry aimed carefully with his wand at the troll's eye, trying to think of any spell that would work, but the three he could think about, incendio, diffindo and furunculus, would not be any good against it.

Maybe incedio, but that was it, and only if its hide was not thick enough that it would take more than a minute for the thing to feel the pain of burning.

Then he registered that the troll was wearing a loincloth, even if it didn't feel it, it would be felt there.

Dodging under another swipe of the club, Harry moved under the legs of the troll, pointed upwards, and without thinking, did the motion and said, "INCEDIO," moving all the while.

The troll roared in pain and turned around almost immediately, growling at Harry and running after the boy.

The raven-haired boy ran towards where he thought the grand stairway was, pushing his legs to the limits with the amount of magic he was pushing into them, but managing to stay a good distance away from the troll, which was now wildly swinging its club around hitting a lot of the suits of armor before they could move from their platforms to try and stop it.

He halted just before he could hit the railing of the landing, but the troll was not far behind, so he climbed into a staircase, which moved as soon as Harry put both feet on it, and waited for the troll to smash through the door.

And smash it did, once again making a shower of splinters take flight, but it didn't stop like Harry did, and the fire was already consuming its leg.

A tendril of magic, solidified to make sure the troll would trip over it was sent to the landing which it had reached, and as it didn't stop, adding to Harry's magic, it fell from the landing and turned into a green blob as it crashed into the stone floor below, next to the door that connected to the dungeons.

Harry shivered, refusing to look down, and asked the stair to take him back to where he was before.

Not to steps after the stair stopped he bumped into someone, Terry, Lisa and Hermione, who had only now reached the end of the hallway.

Harry gratefully took the invisibility cloak from his friend and put it away into his backpack again.

Then he turned around and puked.


	13. Aftermath

**Aftermath**

***Hogwarts School of witchcraft and wizardry*Halloween*second floor landing of the grand staircase***

After the shock finally left Harry, he realized that the teachers were looking at him and his friends, probably for an explanation, so he opened his mouth shakily to give it, "Lisa was not at the feast, nor was Hermione, both were in the loo because of something said to Hermione, I brought Terry, so he could get them away," a shaky smirk found his way to his mouth, "I lit its junk on fire, then ran like hellhounds were after me, then I tripped it"

"How are you feeling, my boy?" Dumbledore asked as nobody else of the present teachers, Snape, McGonagall, Quirrell, Vector, Sinestra and Flitwick, could say anything.

"Like I outran a troll, my legs are sore and my stomach wants to jump out my mouth" he rubbed his throat, trying to get the after pain of vomit from it, "could use a visit to the hospital wing"

"What about you three children, are any of you hurt?" Dumbledore turned to Lisa, Hermione and Terry.

"No, sir, Harry didn't let the troll see us" Terry answered, his voice surprisingly calm, "I'm a bit shocked though, never thought I would see a troll outside dad's job" the girls only shook their head, to shaken to speak

"Understandable, the last troll that entered Hogwarts grounds was when I was a first year," the headmaster looked at his past, "The teachers and the centaurs dealt with it swiftly, not a troll has come down from the mountain yet, until today" he said with a frown, "I am befuddled however, as without authorization from a teacher it should be impossible for a triple-x class beast to enter the grounds."

McGonagall and the rest of the teachers regained their senses at this point, but it was the Scotswoman that reacted first, shouting at them, "What were you boys thinking? Had you told us about your missing friends we would have gone for them ourselves! Do you have any idea of all the things that could have gone badly for you!?"

"Death, paralysis at best" Harry nodded, "but if I'm not fast then that puddle in the dungeons entrance is a snail."

"He's a Potter, Minerva, of course he would try to show off" Snape sneered once he got his wits back.

"He's Batman, professor, he looks down to everyone" Harry smirked at Snape, ignoring his pain.

Snape looked ready to tear a new one into Harry because of his answer, but Dumbledore intervened before she could, "well, you did a service to the school, and between the two of you, you saved two of your year mates, so I believe fifty points each to Mister Potter and Mister Boot and a visit to Poppy should be enough of a reward."

Harry smiled thankfully at the old headmaster and used the wall to his right to get to his feet, only to almost lose his footing before he could fully stand.

Lisa was at his side in an instant, swinging his arm over her shoulder and making him lean on her, Terry was not far behind the dark-haired girl, grabbing Harry's other arm, but the boy was slightly unnerved by the fierce look Lisa had when she looked at Harry.

"What were you thinking?" she asked in a near hiss, "the four of us could have hid under your cloak"

"All of us were scared," Harry said as they helped him limp towards the Hospital wing, all the way to the fifth floor, a hallway away from the clock tower, a bit of a bad location, considering the loud noise of the clock bells could disturb sleep, "It was the first thing that came to mind, I don't regret it"

They spent the rest of the way in silence, with only the occasional groan or ruffle of clothing as they had to adjust Harry so he wouldn't fall off.

It would be almost twenty minutes until they made it to the hospital wing, by which time exhaustion was beginning to set into Harry, so it was within reason that Poppy would treat him first.

"What happened to you, Mister Potter? Torn muscles in the legs, scorched hair, week magical exhaustion, mild shock," she pushed him into a bed, "not even your father came here this early in his first year, and when he did come it was with a potion burn"

Harry chuckled and allowed the matron to push him into a bed, "yeah, I doubt dad had to outrun a troll, what was the worst thing he came over for?" Harry asked, always eager to hear more things about the parent he hadn't met.

Madam Pomfrey looked thoughtful as she rummaged through her potions cupboard, "well, he almost always came because of a stunt he pulled while playing quidditch, he was a great player, but also a bit of a show-off, the worst time he came over was in his sixth year, after he started mellowing out, a bludger hit him while he was flying low," she picked for bottles and a jar, frowning before picking up a fourth bottle, "he came with a broken nose, sprained ankle, fractured femur and dislocated shoulders, he couldn't wipe the grin off his face though, he scored a goal that saved his team from losing the final"

"Well, from next year on ye can expect another regular" he took a whiff from the potions and grimaced, "do I have to drink that? It smells like crap," he said.

"Well if you had decided to stay hidden with your friends, you wouldn't need to drink it, now stay still, I need to apply the burn salve" he hissed as the cold cream touched his scalp, where a few members of the burning loincloth had landed, "now, my oaths make me require to tell you what is what; the blue vial is dreamless sleep, that's the last one, the red is for the muscles, if they were simply tired it would only be a salve, the light green is for the magical exhaustion and the yellow is a calming drought, drink the now, I'll wake you up in the morning" she left his bed and made her way to the others, who were looking at the vials on Harry's bedside table with apprehension.

Harry however, was even more apprehensive, as he had to swallow three foul smelling potions, which probably tasted even worse than the looked, and two of them looked like coloured fat.

Pinching his nose, he started drinking them down, gagging as they did feel like fat going down hi throat.

At least the calming draught was flavour less, even if it was thicker than water.

All that done, he lay down and let sleep take him.

* * *

***Mindscape***

The first thing Harry saw when his eyes opened was that all the animals that normally roamed his mind as guardians were all cowering, and harry had a vague idea as to why, and a hand on his shoulder only confirmed said idea.

Sighing and turning around to face his mother, Harry almost took a step back at how angry she looked.

"HARRY JAMES POTTER, WHAT IN THE NAME OF MERLIN WERE YOU THINKING, RUNNING BETWEEN THE LEGS OF A TROLL" she deflated a bit but kept the angry expression, "do you have any idea of how worried I was, you didn't listen to anything I tried to tell you"

"I was worried for Lisa," Harry tried to explain, "I didn't even know you were trying to speak to me"

"That gives you no excuse, young man; you could have tried to take one of the teachers with you, that woman with the glasses," her glare was starting to diminish even more, "a silencing spell over yourselves while under James's cloak, you had a lot more choices and you had to go with the most dangerous one" she hugged him so strongly he thought that if they weren't in the mindscape she would have cracked some bones, "I thought that you wouldn't make it" she whispered, making his eyes go wide.

Had he really been so reckless that his mother, who knew every single thing he could do, had been that worried about him?

He understood his friends, the only thing they knew about his abilities was that he could manipulate magic without a wand and that he knew some runes and arrays, but that was it.

Without revealing all he knew about himself, they would always be impressed when he revealed something new, but they would also be scared whenever something came up.

He hugged his mother back, "I'm sorry, I wasn't thinking," he mumbled.

Lily pulled back, the glare back on her face, "that much was obvious, so as a punishment for that, you won't be flying until December"

Harry gaped, "But mooom, I can't go that much without riding a broom, not again," he said.

"You went without it for ten years, another month won't hurt" she answered, squeezing him again

Harry twitched.

* * *

***The next morning***

Harry scowled almost as soon as he woke up, the punishment applied by his mother fresh on his mind, and the taste of the muscle potion still on his mouth.

Madam Pomfrey was at his bed in a second, waving her wand over him in complicated patterns and smiling every time a green light appeared over it, "well Mister Potter, you recovered overnight, even if you did not take the dreamless sleep, I'm surprised you didn't wake up in the middle of the night," he hear other beds ruffle and Mada Pomfrey looked away, "now, I must look over your friends, do not come back this term, Mister Potter, or I'll make sure you get the bottoms of every batch"

It was not a well-known fact outside of those who specialized in the field, but potion vials taste better when they are taken from the upper part of the cauldron, a reason why most potion masters tended to dump the lower half of the cauldron, that, or donate it to St. Mungo's, but Pomfrey kept everything, and the closer to bottom the potion was, the worse it tasted, getting to a taste that made almost everyone puke when they tried it when it reached the very bottom.

Lily Potter had known this, and she had told her son, who recalled that particular lesson.

Harry paled and nodded rapidly.

He had tried the bottom of a pepper up; it was only his strong will that kept it from coming back up.

The four of them made their way down to breakfast, idle conversation about the courses and who was their favourite professor.

Terry really liked astronomy.

When they arrived to the great hall, being able to hear the conversation even from beyond the doors, Harry took a step forward.

Everyone turned to the quartet, apparently the rumours of what had taken place the day before were already roaming the school, but Harry was willing to endure it if it gave him a reputation outside the 'boy-who-lived' hype.

"Hey, have you seen the stain in the basement?" he commented, "pretty damn big, makes me almost feel bad for Filch"

There were a few scattered laughs, so he shrugged and moved to the Ravenclaw table.

That was the start of his reputation as a powerful wizard.


	14. Ivestigation

**Investigation**

***Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry*November first***

Harry watched as professor Hook-nose almost unnoticeably limped his way to the front of the classroom, but after seeing the little red stain in the socks of the man, a limp was easy to see, especially to eyes as keen as Harry's, who could spot the birds flying way above him.

Something had happened to him, and Harry would make sure that he knew why, maybe it was related to the third floor? That would make sense, it was supposed to be a death-trap, but why had Snape been there? What did the man want? He doubted that direct interrogation would work, and he did not know how to read minds, he was sure it could be done, so that left spying.

"Do you know what happened to him?" Harry asked Blaize, "he's been limping"

"I don't know; he came to the Hall worse before moving us to the common room" Blaize answered in a whiser, not willing to disturb his concentration, "I think it was the troll…"

"No," Harry interrupted the Italian boy, "Snape went with the other teaches to the dungeons, the troll must have been in the first floor by the time Terry and I reached the second" a shredded boomslang skin went into the cauldron, "it happened after that."

"After you killed the troll" Blaize commented offhandedly.

"That's what they're saying?" Harry smirked, "good, hopefully that will stop stupid fans"

"You say that," Blaize almost growled, "I was harassed by your fans in Slytherin, they wanted to know what happened after the feast."

"I have fans in Slytherin?" Harry asked a bit incredulously, "other than Tracey, really?"

"Yes, Daphne wanted to know what happened too, my mother was the one that got her into you" Blaize paused, "Okay, that sounded creepy, my mother read her and Tracey Harry Potter books, though they know it's fiction"

"Good, I've enough with stupid in other houses," Harry widened his smirk, "So you have lots of blackmail material, I believe?"

Blaize hummed in confirmation, "enough to counter when they try it on me"

"Good," Harry stayed silent for most of the class from then on, only whispering things for Blaize to do while he checked the instructions and the cauldron, but a few minutes before the bell rang he let out one more question, "do you want to know what's on the third floor?" The smirk he got was the only answer he needed, "good."

* * *

***Great hall*Lunch***

"One of us has to be the distraction" Blaize pointed out as the group of friends sat in the part of the Ravenclaw table closest to the doorway, "another the lookout, while only one goes to the corridor itself," everyone nodded, trusting that as a Slytherin he would make the best plan, "the more in the distraction, the better, the opposite is true for the lookout"

"I can ask the Wesley twins for their fireworks" Harry said, "They love mayhem, as soon as I tell them what it is for they'll agree"

"Good, do that," Harry nodded and Blaize continued, "Lisa, Terry or Hermione have to be the lookouts, nobody expects the bookworm to help a rule breaker, two is the max though, another will help me and Neville with the fireworks, while Harry sneaks into the corridor and finds out what is there"

"There is a problem with that" Lisa pointed out, "How will Harry and the lookout keep in touch"

"We don't have a timeline to it," Blaize answered her.

Harry nodded, "We need time to iron out the details anyway," he said, "I can make a communication array, but we would need to ask your parents for a headband"

"Why a headband?" Hermione asked.

"A microphone/headphone diadem would work better" Harry said, "So I can make the runes, it's better to carve or paint runes than sewing them."

"What is a miorophone, or a headphone?" Neville asked.

Hermione explained "what Harry asked for is a device worn on the head used to communicate with other people who are connected to the system the diadem works in"

"Like the floo?" Terry asked.

"Exactly" Harry said before Hermione could start asking a lot of questions and losing the topic, "I need two of them, probably ruining them and making them useless to the muggle world, but it would make a new business if I could make a lot of them"

"Don't let Daphne hear that, she has this fascination of becoming the most powerful woman in Britain, a business would only help her" Blaize commented, "Give an image of what they look like, my mother can make some out of proper runestones, that way you don't have to spend much muggle currency"

"What does your mother work in?" Harry asked.

"She's a fashion designer," the Italian boy answered, "but the earth close to our mansion is rich in magical stones, so she sells them too"

"Do you think you could get me some too? My wall has little room for runes now" Harry asked.

"Yeah, but I think she will charge you for those, she like her money" Blaize answered.

"Back on the plan!" Lisa stopped them from going further, "after you do that, what is next?"

"I go in with my invisibility cloak, try to map whatever is there," Harry answered, "Then I ask questions, discrete ones, about the things in there, traps, spells, whatever I find, then we add our own traps and make sure nothing can enter after we did"

"What if you can't get through?" Terry asked, "What then?"

"Then we skip part one and go directly to laying our own traps" Blaize answered and Harry nodded.

"The only way to make this as likely to succeed as possible is keeping things simple," Harry picked it up, "I would like to believe in the Chaos Theory"

"So it's agreed then," Lisa said, "We wait for you to make the headsets and them do it"

Everyone agreed.

* * *

***Same day*Quidditch match***

It was Gryffindor versus Slytherin that day, and while things were looking up for Gryffindor, whose house team already had a fifty point lead, the seeker of the team was inept at seeking, so he probably got in the team because his broom allowed him to get to the snitch first, as it was a Nimbus 2000, while Slytherin's seeker, Terrence Higgs had both skill, size and broom on his side, with a Comet 800.

So far the scoreboard had been kept on Gryffindor's side, as the keeper, Oliver Wood, had not let any of the ten attempts to put the quaffle through the hoops from his side, and this was starting to frustrate the Slytherin team, as proved by the more savage attempts at stealing the quaffle, already four fouls on Gryffindor's favor had been called, and there was not a sign of the snitch yet, but Harry had already spotted three or four glimmers of gold in the sun, but they were too fast to be sure of anything.

Lee Jordan, the twins' partner in crime was making obviously biased comments on the match and despite McGonagall complaining about it, there was no denying that she was enjoying the comments the boy was making, "AND A FOUL SO OBVIOUS HE SHOULD BE SACKED FROM THE MATCH" just like that one, even if she denied it with her berating.

The match progressed smoothly, or as smoothly as a Gryffindor-Slytherin quidditch match could go, until the bludgers stopped moving in mid-air.

It was sudden, and he doubted that anyone really noticed for a while, as while the bludgers were, in the opinion of many, the best part of the game, they were passive unless a player passed them by a few feet or were directed by the beaters, so no one really noticed themk while they were inactive, but them stopping was something that should have caught everyone's attention, especially the referee's, as he or she was supposed to know what was wrong with any of the quidditch equipment and their enchantments.

People did notice, however, when the pair of bludgers started rocketing towards the stands, the place where Ravenclaw and Gryffindor connected on the stands, right where Harry and his group were, right where most first years were.

Everyone on that section of the stands scattered on different directions, some jumping down the stands and into the pitch, others running towards the exit by the towers.

The bludgers smashed into the stands, smashing through the wood like a hot knife through butter, sending splinters everywhere, some of them hitting the running students and sending them tumbling to the ground, but most got up fast and started running again, not wanting to risk the bludgers going after them.

Said balls rose from the splintered wood, appeared to look around for a moment before going after the Gryffindor group, making said house want to run harder, but since most of them never ran unless needed, some fell to the ground in exhaustion, but it was lucky for them that the bludgers passed them by, going towards the few that were still running.

The teachers had all stood up and were watching the students run for their lives, the more prominent being Snape, who was pointing his wand toward the black balls, a spell already on mind, but he doubted it would be fast enough to hit the bludgers, so the point of his wand was leading them by nearly three feet.

Quirrell looked petrified, with only his head following the bludgers and the rest of his body standing still, with his hand clasped in front of his mouth and his legs seemingly stuck together. The rest of the teachers were watching with either a hand over their mouth or on their chest

"Sectumsempra" Snape's spell flew towards the leading bludger, hitting it in the back, but that was enough for the normally lethal spell to work its magic and blow the ball to smithereens. No one noticed Quirrell twitching.

The second bludger soon followed the first one, Snape hitting it fully on with his spell this time. During the confusion Gryffindor had caught the snitch, making them win 200 to fifty.

Only one person had seen Quirrell twitch during the action, and he was already suspicious. Snape was on the case


	15. Holydays

**Holydays**

***Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry*Scotland*December***

November passed quickly and soon December arrived, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw had their first quidditch match of the school season, and much to both the captain and seeker's chagrin the Ravenclaw team lost by just the snitch worth of points, as the Hufflepuff seeker, Cedric Digori, proved to be faster and more skilled than the Ravenclaw seeker, Cho Chang, losing her during one of the tighter corners the snitch pulled off

Classes had not upped their difficulty again, though several more charms had been learned, and four out of the thirteen spells Quirrell tried to teach to the first years had actually been learned; only the Ravenclaws, Slytherins and Harry's group of friends knew all the spells they were supposed to know, while Gryffindor and Hufflepuff did not bother with independent study, so they were falling behind.

The plan Harry's friends had to enter the third floor corridor had not advanced, as Blaize's mother had not yet provided the group with their rune-stone diadems, so they were instead designing the traps they would place when they managed to get into the locked door, so far they had decided to go with something that could be mistaken for childish pranks of an amateur with nothing on the Wesley twins: a cloth tying spell, a levicorpus, a spell Harry's father had invented to hang people from their ankles, and an itching curse, all tied to a detection ward.

On Snape's side of the story it was not going as well as he could hope, as Quirrell had proved to be more resilient to passive aggressive methods of interrogation, he had yet to snap under the near constant pressure the potion professor was placing on him and though he was even more twitchy he didn't let that show to the students, to them he was only stressed because of the break, there was a rumour flying around that the professor had someone that would get mad if he or she didn't get what they wanted for Christmas.

Dumbledore for his part couldn't be happier: there hadn't been any attempt to go for his new cup other than the Wesley twins trying to put a strong laxative potion on it, but other than that only some curiosity from Minerva and Sibyl had shown, no one suspected that the gem that appeared to be a ruby was instead the Philosopher's Stone and most of the attention was taken from the rest of the gemstones by the big emerald on the goblet.

The students were mostly studying for the end of term exams so problems between houses other than the normal level of rivalry were almost non-existent and several house-exclusive study groups focused on years were formed, with the exception of the first years, some of whom had followed Harry's group example and branched out to other houses, but the Slytherins still kept to themselves.

Hagrid had managed to get Harry and his friends, though he was a bit reluctant to let Blaize into his hut, to visit him every fortnight, and through him they learned of the Marauder's escapades into the forbidden forest all throughout the years, they also learnt the reason Snape hated Harry; apparently James Potter had pulled a really bad prank on Snape that resulted in him snapping at Lily and ending their friendship.

Harry's father had gotten several bruises because of that.

And then, before anyone knew it, exams were done for the month and it was time for those who wanted to go home to do so, and so, nearly all the students left the school to visit their families, leaving only the teachers and a handful of students behind.

"So, plans for Christmas anyone?" Blaize asked the assembled group.

"All my family is getting together to celebrate Yule" Neville answered, "So I'm going to stay in the manor's greenhouse all I can"

"I'm going to visit my grandparents in Wales, so I doubt I will be able to get any present to you, you'll have to wait until after break, and don't send anything if it isn't through post" Hermione said.

"You'll receive only and Lisa's present then, we're the only muggleborn other than yourself" Harry smirked.

"HEY, I know how to use the mail, though it would take until the day before school starts again to get to you, I'll keep it until then" Blazie said, "though we could meet in Diagon someday"

"What about you, Terry?" Hermione asked.

"I'll try to convince dad to take us to Versailles, I want to see the magical section of the palace" the boy answered.

"Ooh, can't you get me something from there, a book on the whole palace, both sides, I would SOOO love that" Hermione begged to Terry, who nodded somewhat freaked out.

"What are you two doing?" Blaize asked Lisa and Harry, who everyone in the compartment knew lived a few streets from each other.

"Mom and Dad are having the whole family over," Lisa answered.

"I'm going to crash in Christmas and spend Boxing Day with them" Harry continued, "I only have to spend New Year's with my relatives"

"Why do you have to, anyway?" Lisa asked

"My room needs a lot of magic to stay expanded, and protected, I wouldn't be surprised if I arrive to find it collapsed" Harry answered.

"Why don't you move in with us?" Lisa asked, "You know my parents would love if you lived with us"

"You know I can sense magic, right?" the group nodded, "well, there are blood wards around my relative's, until I can find the ward stone to move it to your house I'll have to stay at the Dursley's"

"Blood wards don't work like that, you know?" Neville pointed out, "They work by tying someone somewhere, and if it is stopped being considered what it is supposed to be considered by the one tied to it, the place that got the tittle will be the one with the ward"

"It's tied to me and the place I call home, if I stopped calling the Dursley's that and started with the Turpin's that, what would happen?" Harry asked Neville.

"Well, normally the wards would envelop you until you found a home, but you would have to do it in less than a week, otherwise they suffer a catastrophic failure" Neville answered, flushing a bit at the attention.

"So I don't need a ward stone for that as long as I have somewhere that qualifies?"

"Exactly, that's how the Longbottom manor is warded"

"How do you lose that?"

"Well, if the head of house, or most Longbottoms, decided to leave the manor the wards would fail"

"But you have normal wards?"

"Yes, but they aren't as strong as the blood ones"

"What can you link blood wards to?" Harry asked, taking out a small notebook and writing something on it.

Neville retracted even more as he saw Hermione looking at him with an eager expression, "well, eh, um, a fortress, a home, er, a hideout, but those are uncommon, and I don't know what else"

"That is good to know, a hideout, wonder if that would work as a fidelius, is it a ward, the fidelius, I men?" harry asked again but this time he expected an answer from his mother and not from Neville, who indeed did not answer.

"_No, well, kind off, it is more like an oath," _Lily answered, "_You need the caster, the one that swears to keep a secret and the one with the secret, but if the secret is a location then a ward that hides it, if it is a person then it makes everyone think said person is non-existent"_

'_Research time?'_

"_It would be good, yes"_

"So, let's agree to meet at Diagon alley sometime during the month, agreed?" Blaize asked the group, all nodding in agreement.

* * *

***Hogwarts*December 20***

"I know you are planning something Quirrell" Professor Snape hissed at his fellow teacher, "I've seen you wandering around the third floor"

"I-I-I d-don't know wh-what you're t-t-talk-king ab-b-bout, Sev-v-verus" the nervous professor managed to get out.

"Don't try to pretend, how far have you gotten, eh?" the potion master asked, "I bet you're so incompetent you can't even get through the first trap"

"T-t-t-rap?" Quirrell paled.

"Oh, don't play innocent, I've seen you spending time with Hagrid, do you know how to get past it?"

"I-I don't know what you're talking about," Quirrell forgot to stutter, realizing a second too late.

"I don't know who you work for, Quirrell, but if you do anything against the school and I'll have Dumbledore down on you" Snape walked away, his robes billowing behind him.

"That was close" Quirrell whispered to himself.

"_Too close, you imbecile" _A voice that was not Quirrell's whispered sharply.

"Shall I do anything about Snape, Master?" Quirrell asked.

"_No, he's doing the work I asked of him, he'll come back to me and thank you when you get the Stone"_

"Are, are you sure Master, he, he's too much into Dumbledore's camp"

"_Are you questioning me?"_

"No, Master, just Snape"

"_So you question a member of my inner circle, the one that gave me the prophesy of who to kill?"_

"But the prophesy destroyed you"

"_It was my recklessness, a mistake I won't make twice_"

"Understood, Master"

"_Now go to your classroom, I have to torture you for questioning me_"

Quirrell gulped, "Yes master"

On the back of Quirrell's head, hidden under the smell of garlic and several layers of cloth making up the purple turban Quirrell wore, Lord Voldemort, former Dark Lord of Britain, smiled cruelly and started thinking of all the things he would do to punish those that dared think that he wouldn't come back from the dead, as if he wasn't clever enough to defeat death itself


	16. Christmas

**Parties**

***Little Whining*Surrey*December 25***

It had taken them a long time, two weeks for the Turpin's to reach an agreement between them and the Dursley's over the first two weeks of the break, but eventually they agreed to sign Harry's guardianship to the Turpin's, so now Harry lived under their roof and was legally their son.

He still slept on his hammock, even if it was in a room that actually fit the term, with various shelves in which his already read books rested, a wardrobe with clothes that fit him perfectly, not loose but not tight, and a window that opened to the backyard.

The blood wards had been easy to move after Neville's explanation of how they worked, so the Turpin household now had, if one were to develop mage sight, a dark red, pulsing pyramid covering it from across the street and one house right to the property behind it and one house left, with the apex directly at the centre of the Turpin's property. This came with a slight side effect, as now the tellies in the house suffered from severe static from time to time, but nothing that lasted for long and it was mostly during mornings, when both Harry and Lisa had just woken up.

The month had also been a buzz of activity, with everyone going to malls and separating on groups of two to buy the Christmas presents for everyone else, trying to sneak off to get it done by themselves as they also had most Turpin's to shop for.

In one word: hectic.

The first of the extended family arrived yesterday; Becky's mum and dad had arrived from the Midlands in car and checked in on a hotel near the Little Whining and had spent the day with them, curiously watching the interactions Harry had with the other three and trying to fit in that image.

Later arrived George's sister; a woman that had taken the liberty to mooch off of governments in exchange for education and now had a citizenship in Germany with the condition that she became a fully qualified engineer/architect and worked well enough to please the popular demand and had travelled around the mainland on scholarships to expand her skills.

Then came Becky's sister with her husband and children in tow; a pair of brats that had too much energy for anyone but their father or their grandparents to stand , a woman that looked like Becky with the exception that she was shorter and fuller than Becky and a man taller than any Harry had ever seen before.

Last to arrive was George's father along with his other sister and his older brother, the only difference between brothers being the height and the age, the father had almost completely white hair and the sister was brown-haired instead of dark-haired.

The ambient had been amiable but slightly cautious on Harry's part, as the brats Lisa called cousins were fond of clinging to someone and shouting on their ears, more than once they had awoken little Charlie more than once already.

It didn't help that glares didn't work on the little buggers; they were encouraged by them, much to Harry's annoyance.

But well, it could be worse.

* * *

***Italy***

Blaize sighed as he watched yet another suitor trying to woo his mother and failing miserably, just like the other ten, and surprisingly one woman, that had tried before him, and it was made worse because his little sister was making weird noises whenever the man stuttered or paused in his speech while his older sister sat watching it all with a smirk on her face.

Really, his mother was not a scarlet woman, she had gone through many husbands, yes, but of those only one had been for business and that was the original one, the one that ended up with his older sister, and since the death of her first husband she had only married after a full three months of near constant dating; if they broke up before that then she forgot about whoever she was dating, otherwise they led a happy marriage for over eight months and then the husband suffered from an illness or from poisoning from the stones that littered the area since they were not accustomed to the property of those stones.

The two marriages that had lasted more than a full year were the marriage that led to Blaize, who had lasted over two years, making it the largest one, and the one that led to his little sister, that one had lasted a year and two months, but it gave people the idea that his mother was a black widow that killed her spouses for their money, but that wasn't it, not at all.

Oh, well, it could always be worse than that.

* * *

***Longbottom manor***

Neville always hated whenever someone other than children his age came over to his ancestral home, mainly because adults always ignored him because he was eleven an not magically powerful, but his family was worse since they wanted him to be the perfect her with a giant core that could afford to be casting for hours instead of the shy, unconfident near squib that everyone believed Neville to be, ignoring the fact that his grades were in the top three of his class and getting better.

The worst of them all was uncle Algie, the man that had thrown him out the window, almost drowned him, left him alone with a venomous tentacula, threw him to a wall with heirloom weaponry, pushed him down the stairs.

You get the idea.

And all to get eeven a bitr of accidential magic out of him, but the only things that happened was him skin becoming as tough as nails for the second of impact and becoming normal again as soon as it was over.

Then he got accepted to Hogwarts and the man had stopped hovering over his back for magic, but now his family wanted to see what he had learned, and while he was confident that if push came to shove he could defend himself well enough and for long enough to let someone else with bigger knowledge get there.

But his wand wasn't his, it was his father's and as such not as good a match, he personally thought that if anything his mother's wand would fit him better, after all, his mother was the only one of the two that reacted whenever he visited Mungos.

Still, it could be worse; maybe he would exchange the wands someday, or buy himself a new one with his allowance.

* * *

***Granger household***

Hermione hid her scowl under a book as she tried to ignore the comments her family made, mainly her aunt and cousins on her mother's side who had no emotional range at all, even less than the Wesley boy that was on her class, who cared not for what people said and ate with no regards for other people stomach, and insulted every single flaw that she already knew she had, like her bushy hair or her buck teeth, or her shorter than average height.

At least her grandparents and uncles on her father's side were fun to be around and actually cared about knowledge instead of the looks her aunt and her daughter liked.

She honestly preferred being successful to being a trophy housewife, like her cousins would most likely end up as.

Still, could be worse, though it could also go so much better.

* * *

***Boot house***

"Yes!" Terry cheered as his father revealed that the trip they would do that year after Boxing day would be to Paris, "Thank you so much dad!"

Mr and Mrs Boot watched amused as their son did a little joy gig while thanking them loudly, already he was thinking of all he could learn about the true Sun King, and about the time when Grindewald had taken over the Palace, and the catacombs under the city, there was just so much to learn.

"Oh, they are going to be so jealous, how long will we stay?" Terry asked.

"Three days only, one for the Versailles, one for the Louvre and one for the catacombs, no more, no less, we have to be back before my business partner comes back from Egypt, but I think that will be fine you two, right?"

Oh, how could it go better?"

* * *

***Hogwarts*Scotland***

"FRED AND GEORGE WELSEY, GO TO MY OFFICE THIS INSTANT" McGonagall shouted at the top of her lungs as one of the loos near the Gryffindor tower exploded in a shower of water right as the professor walked through.

To her surprise it was not the Wesley twins that came out of the toilet, but rather a seventh year with an ashen face and the toilet sit hanging from his arm, "it wasn't them as far as I can tell professor," the boy said in a surprisingly calm voice, considering what had happened to him, "they've been in the library all day, Martha told me they were when she passed the library"

"Then it was Pevees" McGonagall muttered.

"No, he was in the dungeons when I was having breakfast, I think it was someone else" the boy said again in that voice.

"They are the only troublemakers we have in school right now, and Potter prefers to cause trouble with Snape"

"I think you should check other loos, professor, I'll be going to my room now" the young man walked away with an almost unnoticeable limp, could it be that he had something other than the seat on his body?

"Report to Madam Pomfrey first, I'd prefer not to leave anything to chance" the boy nodded almost mechanically, then she walked to the Gryffindor tower, she had to get those two trouble makers punished.


	17. Third floor

**The Third Floor  
**

***Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry*January 6, 1992***

"That is one big ass dog" right now Harry was under the invisibility cloak, it somehow being enough to keep all the senses of the Cerberus from noticing him, "but why is it here?"

"_Guarding something odiously"_ Lily pointed out, _"I wonder what though"_

Harry tucked the cloak into his socks to avoid tripping on it, '_Let's find out'_ the grabbed the edge of the only other door opening in the room, a trapdoor behind the Cerberus, and used his magic to create spikes on his hands, "I'm in, start the distraction"

A distant rumble, enough to only make the Cerberus lift one ear, sounded, and Harry started to make the descent into the trapdoor, his arms and legs starting to hurt not a quarter of the way in, "Short way down then" the magic around his hands and feet turned from spikes to shark wheels, sharp enough to still dig into the stone of the passage, but definitely not sharp enough to even slow his descent, as within seconds of transforming he could already see the bottom, as soon as he did changing the wheels back into spikes, stopping late enough to leave him hanging over what he recognized as Devil's snare by the passage, "That was close" he took off his cloak after landing away from the snare and tapped his rune stone headset, "report"

* * *

***Blaize***

"Report" came a voice from the thing he was wearing, a ridiculously big stone shaped to look like a headset, heavy on the neck, despite Harry having put lightening runes on them.

"Nothing on the corridor," he took a sip from the glass he had on his hand, enjoying the sting on his tongue, who knew muggles could make such a great drink? "no professors coming this way, riding the stair is getting tiresome though, I'm starting to get dizzy"

"Keep the watch Blaize, I've just gone pass the second obstacle" Harry said on the headset.

* * *

***Neville***

"The, the, the plants are loose" the boy whimpered as something smashed against the door he was trying to hold back, "The tentacula is hungry"

"Keep at it Neville, you should be able to hang on" Harry told the chubby boy, who only whimpered again as the tentacula smashed yet again into the door.

"Wh-what makes you say that?" the boy kicked something that tried to take a hold of his ankle

"Well it should be obvious, your pastime of gardening with magical plants made your upper body stronger than average" Hermione's voice lectured on the headset, "It happens with most people that work with moving heavy plants, my uncle has a greenhouse on his yard, you have the same body as he does"

"Th-thanks, but I don't think I can hold much longer longer"

***Gryffindor third year male room***

"Don't you worry Neville" Fred and George were looking at a map on their bed.

"Sprout is almost there" George looked at all the places near where Harry and Blaize was, rolling his eyes when he saw Hermione in the library, it was past the charms classroom, but still

"That's professor Sprout, boys" Hermione chided.

"Whatever you say…

***Hermione***

"Oh Smart Witch of the West" the twins said together, making her groan

"That's going to stick, isn't it?" they had given her that nickname shortly after they had come back from break, they had been listening when she had been telling them of her ride with her parents from London to Devon, and so they added that to the fact that she had the best theoretical marks of her class, fourth overall.

"Of course it is, the only Ravenclaw above you is me" Terry said, "and I'm pretty damn sure it's because I was raised in this world"

* * *

***Terry and Lisa***

"The fireworks are awesome, by the way" a flame dragon slammed against the roof of the castle before disappearing with a bang, something that probably shook everything down to the second floor.

"Thank you, we've been with it since they taught us Incendio"

"They're still experimental though; tend to go off before forming"

"The explosions will always be great, but not as much when uncontrolled"

"It's good that we have Harry though"

"His genius with runes will solve it"

"Only if you give me part of the profit" Harry interrupted, "I'm a business partner whenever you two have ideas"

A lion firework went off before Terry could levitate it to place, the roar being heard all the way to the Great Hall, "We'll be leaving the seventh floor now, we've run out" Lisa said

"You better run," Fred told them.

"Dumbledore is close" George finished.

The two ran off, getting to an abandoned part of the sixth floor when Dumbledore arrived to the scorched corridor.

* * *

***Harry***

"Oh, heck yes" the room he was currently in was cylindrical with a single pillar on the middle and several archways at different heights, on the side of the room were several broomsticks and mops, even one dustpan with a really long handle.

"Do I do the expected and use a broom or ride the dustpan?" the answer was pretty damn simple, "I love flying" the only word to describe the flying dustpan was unstable, the metal on the back made it so that he had to lean forwards to balance out the weight and be able to move about, but other than that there was nothing of note, so he cruised along with the tiny keys that fluttered about, grabbing the only one that looked worn, using it to open the large wooden door on the other side of the room, coming to an abyss with moving platforms, something easy to pass when he had a dustpan in which to fly over it.

Next came a giant chess board with a graveyard to the side, but that was once again passed thanks to the dustpan allowing Harry to harmlessly fly over it, "Common sense people, always remember to have it"

"They're wizards, Harry" Lisa said on the intercom, "They are born without common sense"

He wrapped himself in the cloak again at the next chamber, flying low and slow to keep the troll from noticing him, considering it was a security troll then it wasn't a bad idea, "I resent that" came Terry's voice, "Some of us have a really good common sense, we live in Ravenclaw, though"

"And in Slytherin," continued Blaize, "I would hurry up, Harry, I can hear some teachers nearby, but they're probably going to the seventh floor"

"I think I almost there, a fire blocks your path, both forwards and backwards, what do you do?" he flew around the room, trying to find anything but the bottles in the middle of the room that would serve to cross the fire, "Flam freezing charm is out of your arsenal"

"I would make a heating solution to raise my temperature to match that of the fire, afterwards using a dousing charm on myself" Terry answered after a minute, long enough for Harry to notice that between the fire and the door there was enough space for a tight landing.

The last room was bare, with the exception of a tall, ornamented mirror in the middle of the room, so Harry walked forward until he was standing in front of it, "_Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi_" it read, "What's that mean?"

He looked at the reflection before doing a double take: in it was him, not that surprising, but standing at his right was Lisa, behind them both was his mother, his father, Becky, carrying Charlie, and George and behind those four there were a lot of people, people he didn't know but all had traits he recognized, like his eyes, or hair, or face.

"So it shows what I want" Harry started to look around the room, wandering about for anything that may be useful, but ultimately finding nothing, so he brought a pillar down on the mirror with a cutting hex, diffindo, and left flying, smashing the bottles in the fire room, flying over the chess pieces again, not letting the correct key free, hiding the dustpan high up in the rafters, feeding some magic to the devil's snare and hitting the Cerberus with a hex that would give it a terrible irritation on its eyes, making it very aggressive, Fred and George had created that one.

"Anyone near me?" he asked into the intercom.

"Not that I can see, no, but ask Fred and George" Blaize was the first to answer.

"There is no one near you, Harry"

"Except a ghost, and a couple on closet"

"Give them a scare, would you?"

"Their marks are exactly above one another"

Harry bit his lip, considering with all his mind if that would be something he would do, but in the end the need to get away won out and the couple got their alone time undisturbed and Harry sneaked away from the third floor, his invisibility cloak covering him again, "I'm out, see you at the lake" Harry took off the intercom and hung it from his pants.

The others all put their headsets away where no one but them could find them and walked away from where they had been during Harry's excursion to the forbidden corridor, not rising any alarms until Hagrid came a day later and found Fluffy to be more grumpy than ususal.

* * *

**To those of you that follow Tales Of Uzumaki, the fights with the Sound Four will take longer than expecte to write, I already have 2, but won't post until all are done**


	18. Discussions

**Discussions.**

***Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry*January 6*Lakeside***

"So, what did you find?" the group was lounging by the lake, near a rock that hid them from view from elsewhere in the grounds, and it was Blaize who asked this from his place sitting with his back to it.

"A Cerberus, Devil's snare, flying keys, a flying dustpan, a void, giant chess, a troll, fire, potions and a mirror that showed what I wanted," Harry had taken the liberty of picking up an apple from the great hall, an example Neville had followed.

"What exactly did it show you?" Lisa asked, curious at what her best could want.

"My parents, you, your parents, it was like one of the portraits at your home" he replied absently, thinking he had missed something.

"That's the mirror of Erised!" Terry explained, making all of them turn to him, "It's ancient legend, it's supposed to show the deepest desire of the one who looks at it, but the last time it was seen was before Grindewald" he explained.

"It was in the last room, but I doubt that that was the thing the corridor is meant to hide" Harry narrowed his eyes.

"Was there anything else?" Blaize was apparently thinking along the same lines.

"No, poisons and potions to pass through the fire" Harry answered, "I suppose it could have been alchemical fire, but without entering that area I will never know"

"How do you know what alchemical fire looks like?" Terry asked, as he did know what it look like, his mother having dabbled some into the easiest field of alchemy, "did it have unusual colours?"

"One was purple and the other black" Harry answered

"Then it was alchemical fire, unless the headmaster put something on where the fire surged to change the colour," Terry said, "Wonder why?"

"Could it be something to do with what's meant to be in there?" Lisa asked

"Could be possible" Fred said.

"Never put anything past Dumbledore" George followed up

"He's barmy enough to do it"

"And he did study under Nicholas Flamel"

"You mean he's real?" Harry asked disbelievingly, "He is actually inmortal?"

"Well, last time he made the new was century ago, gramps was still kicking back then" once again the attention turned to Terry, "when he and Dumbledore discovered the uses of dragon blood"

"So he's alive and possibly involved" Flamel had been a point of interest to Harry, having heard all the legends of how he could bring down a building with just a clap and create solutions that could heal even the worst of ailments, "what could possibly be important enough for Flamel to get involved?"

"Well, it could be the Sorcerer's stone; I remember reading that it gave immortality and endless gold" Hermione said thoughtfully, "but Flamel has had it since he was fifty, back in the fourteen hundreds," she explained.

"Which means he can't defend it anymore" Harry finished, "so he gave it to his apprentice, one of the most brilliant minds, a man he trusted enough to make his apprentice, to keep it in a place where it would have a constant guard," that meant that Dumbledore had used a very basic yet effective ruse.

"And by telling everyone that the third floor corridor is a dead trap, he made the attention go there instead of wherever the stone actually is" Lisa said in awe.

"Say what you will of the old man" Blaize smirked, "he would have been a damn fine Slytherin"

"Yes, but he's too noble for that," Fred said

"A Slytherin cares only for himself" George nodded.

"And our family" Blaize looked at the sky, "Prestige for the family is prestige for one"

"So, yourself" Harry snorted, "Don't disguise it Blaize, you are narcissistic" everyone laughed when Blaize only struck a pose in answer, yet everyone had in mind that somewhere in the castle there was an artefact that was coveted by almost everyone in the planet, an artefact that would make anyone rich and immortal.

* * *

***Dumbledore's office*same time**

"So you assume that Quirrell is after the stone?" Dumbledore was staring at Snape yet ignoring the man.

"I know he is after the stone, I've caught up to him more than once when he was entering the third floor, Halloween was only the first time he tried" Snape replied heatedly.

"And yet the only time anyone has reached the end of the maze was today, rather cleverly, he did, destroyed most chances of getting through at all" The dustpan had been the only thing he had not charmed to be a beacon to the keys, which would make them act as homing rockets.

"Then it was not Quirrell, the man is a fool, he doesn't even make an alibi for when he goes hunting unicorns," Being honest, Dumbledore had noticed that Quirrell went past the wards before the mornings when a unicorn was found dead, but he had yet to find proof other than that.

"I understand your concerns, and I assure you that the stone is perfectly save in its hiding place" that was true, the only thing that had happened to it was that one time he had dropped his cup.

"He is getting closer to it, I think he already know how to get past Hagrid's monstrosity," Snape was annoyed more than anything, he could care less if the fool got it, he would never discover how to use it anyway, not without even the tiniest knowledge of alchemy.

"And he will not get past Flitwicks's obstacle, I am sure of that" and he was.

"You are impossible, fine, let the fool get to the stone," and he stormed off.

Albus shook his head, not understanding how someone he trusted so much would not trust him just as much, a pity really, considering that if all went to plan he would live just long enough to see the class of '91 reach their late twenties, it all depended on how much lifetime he gained by having only his cup's worth of Elixir of Life.

Which brought him to think about said class, mostly young mister Potter, the boy that since day one had found a way out his plans, maybe for the better, since he was happy and confident, with many friends, some, like mister Zabini, of questionable alignment, and others of ideas that went against traditions, like miss Granger, but mostly good friends, and already he was a leader, more so than Albus himself had been at eleven, considering Harry was well regarded by everyone, unlike Albus who had been a bit of a bully.

It made him sure that even from the side-lines, Harry would be a shepherd for his generation, taking magical Britain to more advances in technology and magic than what he had managed to achieve, hopefully making them less dependent on magic and more in ability, maybe even destroying all concepts of blood purity.

Europe was the only continent, China was the same though, that preferred blood over ability, as if the first granted the other, none cared that the US, Japan and Mexico produced some of the best wizards, followed shortly by Canada and the Czech Republic, even though their purebred population had been lost almost totally over the course of time, ever since the witch hunts in the fifteen hundreds, meaning that the majority was either halfblooded or muggleborn.

He wondered if perhaps he would live long enough to see his plans for Britain come true, his plans of equality between magicals and muggles, of a world like the legendary Camelot, where everyone followed under Arthur and Merlin, fighting for the peace of the kingdom together.

It hadn't been like that since the fall of the Roman Empire, when those damn Christians had ruined all that Jesus had been trying to teach them, hating witches and wizards even though Jesus himself had been one himself, a really capable one, and even though the disciples had gone through all the Mediterranean in attempts to spread the word of peace.

How one thing could degenerate so fast, all by a simple mistake.

It was all simple back when the druids roamed the land, back when mages were up at, when muggles wanted the help of magicals, but now it was magicals that needed help, the muggles now were well into the billions, with weapons capable of self-defence and medicines that could cure things even the magicals couldn't.

At least peace reigned the lands, sure, there had been some revolutions lately, but nothing that could be considered war, and those were mostly in Africa, Africa was a continent of violent creatures, it was only appropriate that the population was just as violent as those that shared the continent, especially in the forest of Congo.

He could only wish that whoever took the position of shepherd after he passed on would have the proper intentions in mind, if so, then he would be happy when he passed on to the next great adventure.


	19. Unveiled

**Unveiling**

***Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry*May 21*Great hall***

"WHERE IS THE STONE YOU OLD FOOL?!" Quirrell marched into the great hall, slamming the doors open at plain view of most the students assembled at dinner, but he was walking backwards, his knees looking as if someone had hit them so hard they reversed, so he was walking like a bird.

It also wasn't just Quirrell, since on the back of his head there was a face, a horrible face, a face that belonged in nightmares, a face that many expected to be committing unspeakable deeds, a face nor seen since Halloween of the '81.

The face of Voldemort.

"I expected you try to make a move on it, Tom, but I never thought you would be this forward with it" Dumbledore pointed at the tables with his wand, sending them close to the walls and raising a wall of rock between them and the students, "I admit though, whatever you did to that turban was very effective, I never sensed your presence in school, you should have been more discreet when feeding on the unicorns though, Hagrid found many of their corpses."

"It matters not you old fool, you will give me the Philosopher's Stone this instant" it seemed he was too focused on Dumbledore, he didn't notice that Flitwick was already in a stance and that McGonagall had sneaked behind him as a cat.

"I'm afraid that is not possible Tom, for I destroyed it as soon as Nicholas gave it to me, you should know when, you did attack his summer home" Dumbledore's eyes had lost all twinkle, now resembling chips of ice

"You lie" the stamen was as cold as the red eyes on Voldemort's face, "Even you, the almighty Dumbledore could not resist the temptation of the Stone, admit it you fool"

Dumbledore's face revealed nothing, "The temptation was great, I admit, but unlike you, I do not fear the next great adventure, that is only part of the reason most consider me to be an exemplar leader, unlike you, who had to force loyalty by torture, I did join when victory was not secure."

Voldemort did not take that lightly, throwing a spell at Dumbledore, who blocked it with a shield raised in a split second, and his lack of situational awareness proved to be his downfall, as he was struck down by McGonagall and Flitwick, both of whom threw their spells at the same time, hitting him at both his chests.

Quirrell's body turned to ash then, the magic, or whatever it was that held him together, was no longer able to sustain itself, and so soon Voldemort found himself without a body again, his wraith screaming at all who heard him, terrifying all the first and second years, along with some of the third years.

Harry Potter was the only one not terrified, he was I shock, yes, but not terrified, for he knew that Voldemort would not be able to touch him, not in the form he felt the dark lord to be, yet to know that the one that had killed his parents was still alive, still fighting…

Maybe he should delve deeper into the magical arts, if the monster was still alive then he needed to learn how to fight no matter what was on his side.

"Students will remain here for the remainder of the week" Albus spoke above the chatter of the hall, "The Heads of House, with the exception of professor Flitwick, will stay here, seventh years, you are tasked to help the teachers, all the other teachers, with me" Dumbledore then marched away from the Hall.

* * *

***Headmaster's office*Five hours later***

"Albus, I got your call" A man, tall with little to no grey hair, sharp features and sharp red eyes stepped through the Floo at the headmaster's office, "You said you needed to see me."

"Yes, I did, would you like to have your stone back now, or can it wait for the end of the school year, I must say I've become fond of it as a decoration" he motioned to the golden cup with lots of jewels in it, but the man just locked eyes with one of them a red gem on the handle.

"Have you drank from it?" the man picked up the cup looking at it from the upside and from the bottom, "the handle connects to the cup"

"Yes, it does, and I did, but no more than what you offered me when I was your apprentice, once a month on the new moon" that was when the Elixir was the weakest, the strongest being at the full moon, "other than that I had the handle sealed"

"I can't say I blame you, the temptation is great, but you did remember what I told you, so that is good," Fawkes flamed into the room then, Nicholas walking to the perch and stroking the phoenix, "Perenelle has been worried about you, she thinks that you will become senile soon"

"It is something I fear as well, but Fawkes helps keep that away, and I fell stronger than I have in ten years" Albus stood from his chair and walked to one of his windows, "alas, my time for the next great adventure is soon to come"

"You were always fond of that saying, organizing your mind and all that, I envy you sometimes, I wish that the ancient ones hadn't chosen me and Perry for what they did" It was the only reason he hadn't destroyed the stone already, he was tired, a father to more than fifty children, all of them already dead and believed to be orphans, "At least I have only twenty years left"

"I'll make sure that Fawkes goes to you when I pass on, my old master, you seem to need the morale" the phoenix sang and the ancient alchemist smiled, "and I believe he likes you more than he likes me" he said with amusement.

"If he can reach me, the twins of the prophesy will soon come, they shall be born in a few more years, do you think you can keep Dee away from me until then?"

"Yes, give my regards to Perenelle, and take the stone with you, Voldemort is on the run again, he won't try to move on you again"

"Thank you, Albus, I will tell everyone you said hi" Nicholas's eyes started to glow and the smell of mint filled the air, with a snap of his fingers, the alchemist disappeared.

"And they call me a show off, my master was the one who taught me" Albus smiled.

Twenty years, that would explain why he had detected someone leave and enter the forest from the mountains so many times, the Shadow must have been on the move.

He wished he could outlive his master, but it was a foolish wish, he wouldn't, not with Voldemort roaming again.

* * *

***Malfoy manor***

The elder Malfoy moved the black diary on his hands, contemplating the name on it, ignoring the pull on his mind barriers, and contemplating what to do with it.

The Ministry was growing bold, he had had to seal off his basement more than once a week throughout the year, ever since the break in at Gringotts, and now he would probably do it semi-permanently if that fool Wesley didn't stop the raids for enchanted muggle items.

Maybe…The Dark Lord had said that this diary could be the key to his rebirth, so maybe if he planned it enough he could bring down Wesley and Dumbledore while at the same time restoring the Dark Lord to power, an all-round win in his opinion, and all he needed was a scapegoat.

* * *

**Dear readers, vacations have ended for me, I don't know about you, but I no longer have the free time I used to, so I am making my updates bi-monthly instead of weekly, updating the 1st and 15 of each month to avoid being swamped by work, since I will now have a lot becase of high school**


	20. The summer follower

**A little stalker**

***Turpin home*Surrey, England*July 30, 1992***

It had been mostly a good summer, the headsets he had created were incredible over long distances, the only one that Lisa and Harry couldn't contact out of the group was Blaize, and even though the Italian boy had yet to make contact, the vacation of everyone was enjoyable, even with the muggy heat of the summer, Harry even got around to working around the neighbourhood to raise money, even though George and Becky were willing to give the boy an allowance.

Through their conversation they found out that Hermione got around to follow Harry's example and restarted her muggle education during the summer, catching up to him and Lisa by the third week thanks to her constant effort and reading. They also gathered that her parents were glad that she would try to spend more time in their world.

From Neville they didn't hear much, the quiet boy didn't speak much when they called, answering with short phrases, but managing to not make them cutting, so they could keep the conversation going, even if the boy didn't have much time to speak thanks to the time his grandma made him spend with tutors on etiquette and all the a heir of a magic family should know.

Fred and George had confessed their vacation had been repetitive, as their mother had taken their wands as soon as they had been picked up from the station, leaving them unable to perform magic around the house, or at least active magic, so their daily routine was as follows: wake up, get to breakfast, answer some, ignore some of their little sister's question, signal their next-lot neighbour through smoke signals, go down for lunch, try to piss off Percy, go back to their room after dodging their sister, blow up some things with their experimental products, fly around a few hours, get dinner and then sleep, only to repeat the next day.

Terry had, once again, spent his vacations visiting historic monuments, going to Stonehenge, The Tower of London, the Big Ben, and this week he had told them that the trips would stop for the summer, as he had yet to do his homework and his parents were needed at their jobs, so he stayed at home, doing his homework, asking for help whenever he got stuck in something, in non-Ravenclaw way. More than once the boy had Morag McDougal over, apparently he and she got as close as Harry and Lisa during the year, so eventually Harry promised to get her a headset, sending Hedwig to Blaize so he could get the diadem headset and find out why he hadn't been in contact.

That had been a week ago. Hedwig had returned the day before, her feathers looking ruffled and her eyes angry, but she had been clutching a letter and the headset. The letter had explained that he had sent his family's owl several times during the month, but it had always returned with the letter clutched between its talons and thoroughly confused, which led all of them to believe that there was someone intercepting the mail. Good thing only one of them needed the mail, maybe it was time to introduce Blaize to international muggle post.

Today, the day before Harry's birthday, exactly five months before Lisa's birthday, had been nothing but bumming around, mostly because the heat had been unbearable for the day, it was a nightmare for all of them, both Harry and George cut their hair at the beginning of the week and there was not a moment that Lisa and Becky didn't spend with their hair up in pony tails.

Some family had stopped by, looking surprised when they saw Harry sitting comfortably in what used to be one of the two guest rooms, now permanently a bedroom for Harry, looking rather confused when they saw him lounging on the hammock with a book in hand and twirling his wand, most of them thinking it was a normal stick.

It was amusing whenever it happened, even more when they entered and saw the hammock swinging by itself.

It didn't break the Statute of Secrecy because Harry didn't use visible magic and they assumed that most of the runes painted on his walls were just tribal decorations, instead of runes that silenced his room, made the walls hard when pressed softly but hard when hit, so he wouldn't break anything if he fell, kept the room fresh and from smelling like a captive teenager, something appreciated by everyone in the house.

Becky and Gorge had asked for the silencing runes, Harry was not entirely sure why, but he complied anyway, no reason to deny them. Maybe it was an adult thing.

Anyway, apart from that, summer had been uneventful, no trouble from the wizarding world, an invitation to stay at the burrow for a week, or at the Boot home for another, or a get together with Hermione at one mall or another, or with the whole group at Diagon Alley now that the Hogwarts letters had arrived.

Both Harry and Lisa had asked if they could stay one week at each of those houses, George and Becky had agreed to six days in total, three in each house, as they did not know any of the parents and therefore trusted them only because they were the parents of their children's friends, complete and utter strangers otherwise.

So a week from now Mr Wesley would come to the Turpin's to pick up Harry and Lisa, and then Mr Boot would turn up to the Wesley home to pick them up, and then apparate them home.

Today though, and tomorrow for that matter, the Turpin household would laze around the house.

Or that was what Harry thought would happen.

He left his room around noon to get a fruit, to stave off hunger while George cooked lunch, munching on an apple as he went back to his room, thinking of how he would get around to start selling the runic headsets, and upon entering his room he saw the strangest creature he had ever seen.

Now, as sated before Harry had started to do chores for money around the neighbourhood, but what hadn't been mentioned was the fact that many times during his works he had felt eyes on him, and not the kind of eyes that came from an adult watching from the windows in concern for his front yard, but the eyes of someone following him.

The strange thing was that every time he looked, actually looked and not just glanced, in which case he would see tennis-ball-sized eyes, there was no one looking at him except for the owners of the homes he worked at.

Or so he thought, the eyes of the creature were the very same he had seen whenever he just glanced at whenever he was being looked at.

So when he saw the creature that caused him so much discomfort during his jobs, he reacted the way he reacted to most threats; surrounding it with his magic tendrils and waited for any provocation, "Give me one good reason not to break your arms."

The creature, whatever it was, and Harry was not about to ask, squeeked and tried to hide behind the one chair in his room, "I be Dobby, and I comes to warn the Great Harry Potter Sir of a great danger coming to the Hoggy Warts."

"Hogwarts is in danger," Harry raised an eyebrow, "Is it related to the wraith possessing my ex-teacher?"

"Dobby is not knowing what the Great Harry Potter Sir is talking about, but it be a very dangerous" the thing answered.

"Voldemort, is it related to him, in any way?" Harry started to raise the thing from the floor, making it look very scared.

"Harry Potter must not say his name," Dobby screeched, struggling in his invisible bonds, "And it does not involve Snake-Face," the way he said it…

"A memory?" Dobby's arms looked particularly stretched, so he would stop pulling, "Something from his past.

The elf looked gleeful, "Yes, the Great Harry Potter Sir must not go back to Hoggy Warts."

"And leave my friends to Voldemort, not thanks, I am not helpless, haven't been since I was orphaned" he had a magic shell around his body, a shell that protected him from everything physical, something that allowed him to manipulate magic itself without a focus.

The elf looked like he wanted to say something, but Harry interrupted before he could, "I am not sure what you are, my best guess is some kind of elf, and from what I know of elves, you are capable escaping from almost everything, yet here you are, I can keep you from doing anything, I can do it with every animal, what makes you think I can't do it whit whatever threat rises," a bluff, the biggest he had ever said, he knew that his magic tendrils were limited, they only worked actively when he was thinking of them, otherwise serving as nothing more than armour, "I don't care if Voldemort regains his body, I will find a way to send him through the veil, he will pay for what he has done, and I can't do that if I don't go to Hogwarts."

The elf looked about to say something, but something startled him, his eyes widening comically, and he popped away, leaving Harry with his eyes narrowed

'_Mum, I've a felling it's going to be a bad year_' Harry walked to the hammock and started to read again.

"_Did you have to torture that elf?" _Lily asked, more than a bit mortified.

'_We both know I wouldn't hurt him, it was more of a psychological thing'_ Lily shook her head.

"_Maybe he would have talked if you just asked_" Harry had not answer for that.


	21. Dealing with it

***Hogwarts express*September 1****st****, 1992***

"You were stalked all summer by a house elf" Blaize Zabini had grown half an inch during the summer, his hair had gotten longer, he had not cut it back to his usual buzz cut, "That sounds like a pureblood plan if I've ever seen one"

"It said that Voldemort, in one form or another, would try something this year," It was only Harry and Blaize in the compartment, they had used the excuse of going to the bathroom as to not raise an alarm, "It was the only thing I managed to get out of him"

"And you want me to keep an eye up and an ear to the ground" Harry nodded, "You realize that it could start before I found out anything, right?"

"I am counting in the fact that you will get the power hungry girl and her follower into it," Harry started to wash his hands, "you hang around them when you're not around me, and I'm sure that whoever will let Voldemort in will be a Slytherin, all the death eaters from other houses were thrown in Azkaban"

"Okay, first, Daphne is not power hungry, only ambitious, and she wants to get out of her house as soon as possible, second, Tracey is her friend, as am I, and not a follower, we are the only ones she calls that" Blaize scratched the back of his head "She's actually pretty nice to those she likes," he frowned, "Tracey, me, her sister and her mother"

"She wants to own a powerful company, that is power hungry, even if she wants to do it because she hates the misogynistic magical society," Harry made for the door, "That I understand, I'm making my own to get even more money in the Potter vault, but she could open up more"

Next he would tell Terry about the Voldemort threat, the Ravenclaw house had proven last year that they were not above pureblood supremacy, as his investigations after the prank that stopped the bullying led to uncovering that both Chang, Li and Edgecombe were purebloods.

For now though, he would relax, Slytherin, the biggest threat, was already covered.

* * *

***Compartment***

"Why is there a tiny blond in my place?" Harry asked after he entered the compartment, spotting the blond girl sitting where he had been sitting, between Lisa and Terry, "That was my spot"

"Well, she asked if she could sit with us, so we let her," Terry looked very amused with the blond girl, and was paying a lot of attention to what she was saying before Harry spoke up, "Very interesting conversation she makes, if a little odd."

"I understand that you would get attacked by nargles when speaking to me," The blond commented as Harry sat next to Morag and Hermione, "They tend to invade people around me"

"Yeah, and you are?" Harry looked around, noticing that no one paid attention to his question.

"Luna, Luna Lovegood, and you are Harry Potter" the blond girl looked at Harry, her eyes narrowing some, "You look very different from your friends," Harry could not help but think that she was talking about something other than looks.

"It tends to happen" Harry answered, reaching over with his magic tendrils, making her nod.

"Do you happen to have a crumple-horned snorkack?" the blond asked.

"What is that?" Hermione asked before Harry could even open his mouth, "And what are Nargles?"

Luna looked at Hermione as if the bushy-haired brunette was mad, "You would know that if you read the Quibler, but I'll explain; Nargles are tiny, invisible creatures that fly around people's head, and when they get inside them they scramble thoughts and ideas, and snorkacks are fyrry creatures that live in Norway, but that is all daddy and I know about them"

"Well, they aren't in any book of magical creatures" Hermione huffed.

"Neither were platypuses or kangaroos until people reached Australia," Lisa said, "yet they're very much real"

Hermione had no answer for that, so she thanked the gods when Fred and George entered the compartment, even if they only stayed a few moments to chat with Harry and Terry before moving on, Lee Jordan following them a few seconds later, and shortly after the three were dragged by the Gryffindor chasers.

In the end Luna was sure that she had found people that she could call friends.

* * *

***Great hall***

The yearly sorting, the event that would dictate the social path of the new students of Hogwarts, most would stick to their houses when it came to friends. Eventually they would become the very image of the house, but every year there was someone that tried to break that, or that simply didn't care about house barriers, people like Harry Potter, who had friends in three of the houses and was acquainted with everyone in his year.

This year was the first of the baby boom from after the Voldemort War, there were sixty-something students in all, once and one half as much as the previous year, and the next year there would probably be around a hundred students, maybe even more.

One of two things would happen; either someone would follow Harry's group example and care not for houses, or they would be sheep and stay inside their own house, but with a class like that there was sure to be at least five who would not care.

Now, Harry Potter was normally a patient guy, but cauldron cakes, the most filling food sold in the Hogwarts express by the trolley lady, could only stave off hunger for a while, and the sorting was not doing him favors, as most people were taking around a full minute, so Harry decided to let his eyes wander while waiting for the rest of the students to be sorted.

Five students stood out; one of them was carrying a camera, Colin Crevey, sorted into Gryffindor, and while he appeared to be a boy-who-lived fanboy, he was showing that he knew about the laws of the wizarding world, along with the customs and general knowledge; he would have been a great Ravenclaw if not for the enthusiasm.

Luna was another one, but Harry thought he had a good read on her, at least for the time being. The twins' sister was another notable witch, she was writing on a notebook, probably because she knew that her name would be one of the last, but Harry noticed that she was hardly paying attention to what McGonagall was saying, even less to where the students before her were going.

The third had been a Davies, yet looked nothing like the Ravenclaw quidditch captain nor Blaize's friend, as far as Harry knew those two were half-siblings, so they could be unrelated, but the way the boy looked at the great hall when he was sorted into Slytherin and the way he moved towards Tracey when he was sorted made him think otherwise. A bastard child maybe.

Fourth had not been called up yet, but she was paying less attention to the sorting and more to the decorations around the great hall, looking intently at the suits or armour that stood next to the pillars, most likely wondering how they moved, something Harry had yet to discover, even after a year of spending a weekly hour searching for whatever made them move. Perhaps a research partner when it came to that topic.

Last was also a boy, a tiny boy that looked out of place with the rest of the first years, being smaller than all of them in both build and stature, everyone was taller than him by a head, and the boy was someone Harry had saved some times from Dudley's gang, so it was to no surprise that the boy looked relieved by Harry's presence at the school.

All in all, the batch would prove interesting, from the guy that could be a pain in his arse to the guy that would no doubt stick to him like a life line, but he really wanted to meet that girl with the same curiosity as him, a person that could rival him in ideas. And perhaps more.

For now though, sorting was almost over, four more students, luckily, his stomach was already rumbling in hunger.

No one noticed when the second youngest Wesley child slipped into the Great Hall, but they did notice when Snape dragged him out by the arm, something that made his brothers shake their heads, one pair in self-pity at not having managed that in their four years and the other in shame at being related to the boy that would from now on be known as the one that broke the rules before the school even started.

But no one did notice when a house elf popped away with a remorseful look in his giant eyes.


End file.
